A huge cleansing of Turkey’s state and other institutions is continuing as people from all walks of life find themselves being hunted down and taken into custody.
At least 206 people were arrested, while 30 others were detained on Saturday, according to Turkish news agencies.
Police carried out the operations in 18 provinces across Turkey. With most of the arrestees being teachers, those arrested over the past day also included police officers, academics, businessmen, doctors, university personnel, prison guards and a farmer.
Veteran journalist brothers Ahmet and Mehmet Altan were among those detained on Saturday. The Altan brothers are accused of ”giving subliminal messages suggesting a military coup” in their remarks during a TV program on July 14, a day before the bloody coup attempt.
The victims of Saturday operations carried out as part of a massive purge have been added to the already-huge group of people who have been either detained or arrested since July 15.
Turkey survived a military coup attempt on July 15 that killed over 240 people and wounded more than a thousand others. Immediately after the putsch, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government along with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement.
Despite Gülen and the movement having denied the accusation and calling for an international investigation, Erdoğan — calling the coup attempt “a gift from God” — and the government launched a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting them in custody.
More than 100,000 people have been purged from state bodies, nearly 43,000 detained and 23,500 arrested since the coup attempt. Arrestees include journalists, judges, prosecutors, police and military officers, academics, governors and even a comedian. (Turkey Purge)
