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18 previously released military staff arrested in Konya on prosecutor’s objection

Detained Turkish soldiers who allegedly took part in a military coup arrive in a bus at the courthouse in Istanbul on July 20, 2016, following the military coup attempt of July 15. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was today to chair a crunch security meeting in Ankara for the first time since the failed coup, with tens of thousands either detained or sacked from their jobs in a widening purge. BULENT KILIC / AFP

Eighteen soldiers who were previously detained and subsequently released in an operation on an air force base in Konya were arrested on Saturday upon the demand of a prosecutor.

The initial operation took place on Oct. 20 over alleged ties to the Gülen movement, and 29 military staff members of various ranks and positions including two colonels were arrested.

Turkey’s Defense Ministry announced on Friday that 195 personnel, 158 of whom are officers, were dismissed from the Land Forces Command and Naval Forces Command on allegations of links to the faith-based Gülen movement.

Turkey experienced 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 the lack of any evidence to that effect.

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