Turkish theater player Ömer Pekin, who has been mostly known with his role in Turkish radio comedy “Perişan FM (Miserable FM)” and state-run TRT’s puppet show “Kuklagiller – (Pupet Family),” was detained on Friday as part of Turkish government’s massive post-coup witch hunt campaign targeting the alleged members of the Gülen movement.
Police have detained 18 people including Ömer Pekin following the detention warrants issued by İzmir Chief Prosecutor’s Office for 41 people in 14 cities over their alleged links to the Gülen movement. Pekin has been accused of having used ByLock mobile phone messaging application.
Turkish authorities believe that ByLock is a communication tool among the alleged followers of the Gülen movement. Tens of thousands of people, including civil servants, police officers, soldiers, businessmen and even housewives, have either been dismissed or arrested for using ByLock since the failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016.
Renowned Turkish comedian Atalay Demirci was also reported to be among the detainees in the Friday investigation, media reported. Demirci had spent 1 year and 17 days under pre-trial detention over similar charges before being released pending trial on August 17, 2017.
Demirci faces aggravated life imprisonment and additional jail sentence of up to 10 year on accusations of membership to a “terrorist organization,” and “attempting to overthrow the constitutional order, the Turkish government and the Turkish Parliament.”
An indictment drafted by the prosecutor’s office sought a life sentence and an additional sentence of up to 10 years, to be served consecutively, for the comedian on charges of alleged links to the Gülen movement, which is accused by Turkish authorities of masterminding a coup attempt on July 15, 2016.
Tweets between Demirci and former Turkish football player Hakan Şükür and Enes Kanter, a Turkish basketball player in the NBA, who are also accused of links to the Gülen movement, are cited in the indictment as evidence of Demirci’s ties to the faith-based group.
Meanwhile, police have detained 5 military officers, who are on their active duties in the Turkish military in Tokat province over their alleged links to the Gülen movement on Friday. Also on Friday, 4 military officers were detained during police raids in Muğla, Antalya, İstanbul, Kocaeli and Yalova provinces following the detention warrants issued by Muğla Chief Prosecutor’s Office for 7 people over their alleged links to the movement.
Zonguldak police have also detained 13 people, including two women, on Friday over their alleged links to the Gülen movement. It was reported that the detentions have come following the warrants issued bu Zonguldak Chief Prosecutor’s Office for 20 people in the province and there are military officers, teachers, engineers, police officers, doctors and housewives among the detainees.
Moreover, 13 people were detained by police on Friday over their alleged use of ByLock.
Turkey survived a controversial military coup attempt on July 15, 2016 that killed 249 people. Immediately after the putsch, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government along with Turkey’s autocratic President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement.
Fethullah Gülen, who inspired the movement, strongly denied having any role in the failed coup and called for an international investigation into it, but President Erdoğan — calling the coup attempt “a gift from God” — and the government initiated a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting them in custody.
Turkey has suspended or dismissed more than 150,000 judges, teachers, police and civil servants since July 15. Turkey’s Justice Ministry announced on July 13 that 50,510 people have been arrested and 169,013 have been the subject of legal proceedings on coup charges since the failed coup. (SCF with turkeypurge.com)
