8.1 C
Frankfurt am Main

Turkey detains 421 alleged followers of Gülen movement in past week

Must read

Turkish police detained 421 people between Dec. 10 and Dec. 17 as part of a post-coup crackdown on followers of the Gülen movement, according to a statement released by the Turkish Interior Ministry on Monday.

Meanwhile, Turkish prosecutors on Monday issued detention warrants for 111 people over Gülen links in Çanakkale, Balıkesir and Ankara provinces.

Thirty-five of the detainees were military personnel.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government pursued a crackdown on the Gülen movement following corruption operations in December 2013 in which the inner circle of the government and then-Prime Minister Erdoğan were implicated.

Erdoğan also accuses the Gülen movement of masterminding a coup attempt in July 2016. Despite the movement strongly denying involvement in the failed coup, the Turkish government launched a witch-hunt targeting the group following the abortive putsch.

Since then, some 140,000 public servants have been dismissed by government decrees and more than 600,000 people investigated on terrorism charges.

The European Commission said in a report on April 17 that since the introduction of a now-ended state of emergency on July 20, 2016, over 150,000 people have been taken into custody and 78,000 arrested.

Liked it? Take a second to support Turkish Minute on Patreon!
Become a patron at Patreon!
More News
Latest News