Turkish government has issued detention warrants for 107 teachers and detained 51 of them on Monday as part of its massive post-coup witch hunt campaign targeting alleged member of the Gülen movement.
Ankara Chief Prosecutor’s Office has issued detention warrants for 107 teachers who were dismissed by government decrees under the rule of emergency declared in the aftermath of a controversial coup attempt on July 15, 2016 over their alleged links to the Gülen movement. It was reported that 51 of the teachers were detained on Mon day morning.
Moreover, on Monday, in a Kırşehir-based investigation 11 people including police officers, health workers, public servants and shopkeepers were detained in 3 provinces over their alleged links to the Gülen movement.
Also in Tokat, 10 more military officers, who are on their active duties, were also detained on Monday. The detention came following the warrants issued by Tokat Chief Prosecutor’s Office for 34 military officers over their alleged links to the Gülen movement. Eighteen of these military officers were detained perviously.
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.
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.
