News / Turkey

Turkish police detain dozens of suspects over affiliation to Gulen movement

Tuesday, 04 December 2018 5:23 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 04 December 2018 5:27 PM ]

Defendants Kemal Batmaz (first row, C) and Akin Ozturk (second row, C) and other defendants are accompanied by gendarmerie as they arrive for their trial at Sincan Penal Institution at the 4th Heavy Penal Court near Ankara on August 1, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

Turkish security forces have arrested more than a hundred people on suspicion of affiliation to a movement led by US-based opposition cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom the Ankara government accuses of having masterminded the July 2016 coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkey’s official Anadolu news agency reported that 137 suspects were detained in 24 provinces across the country, including Izmir and Mugla on the Aegean coast in addition to Ordu and Zonguldak on the Black Sea.

The arrests came after prosecutors in the country’s largest city of Istanbul as well as the capital Ankara issued 267 arrest warrants as part of different investigations into followers of the Gulen movement.

During the 2016 botched putsch, a faction of the Turkish military declared that it had seized control of the country and the government of Erdogan was no more in charge. The attempt was, however, suppressed a few hours later.

Ankara has since accused Gulen of having orchestrated the coup. The opposition figure is also accused of being behind a long-running campaign to topple the government via infiltrating the country’s institutions, particularly the army, police and the judiciary.

Gulen has denounced the “despicable putsch” and reiterated that he had no role in it.

This file picture shows Turkish cleric and opposition figure Fethullah Gulen sitting at his residence in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, the United States. (Photo by the Associated Press)

“Accusations against me related to the coup attempt are baseless and politically-motivated slanders,” he said in a statement.

The 77-year-old cleric has also called on Ankara to end its “witch hunt” of his followers, a move he says is aimed at “weeding out anyone it deems disloyal to President Erdogan and his regime.”

Turkish officials have frequently called on their US counterparts to extradite Gulen, but their demands have not been taken heed of.

Turkey, which remains in a state of emergency since the coup, has been engaged in suppressing the media and opposition groups suspected to have played a role in the failed coup.

Tens of thousands of people have been arrested in Turkey on suspicion of having links to Gulen and the failed coup. More than 110,000 others, including military staff, civil servants and journalists, have been sacked or suspended from work over the same accusations.

The international community and rights groups have been highly critical of the Turkish president over the massive dismissals and the crackdown.

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