Turkish government has issued detention warrants for 135 people, including dozens of military officers over their alleged links to the Gülen movement on Wednesday.
Prosecutors in the central province of Konya has issued detention warrants for 70 military officers, including 23 dismissed from their duties in the aftermath of a controversial coup attempt on July 15, 2016. The warrants are part of Turkish government’s massive post-coup witch hunt campaign targeting the alleged members of the Gülen movement. It was reported that the suspects served in the Turkish land and naval forces. Konya police have been ordered the launch of simultaneous operations across 34 provinces to detain the suspects.
Meanwhile, prosecutors in the Mediterranean province of Antalya has issued detention warrants for 65 people, including 35 civil servants, 25 security officers, and four civilians, over their alleged links to the Gülen movement. Antalya police ordered the launch of a simultaneous operation in 99 addresses across 24 provinces, detaining an unknown number of the suspects.
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 President 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 Interior Minister announced on December 12, 2017 that 55,665 people have been arrested. Previously, on December 13, 2017, The Justice Ministry announced that 169,013 people have been the subject of legal proceedings on coup charges since the failed coup.
