Turkish authorities have detained 56 people over alleged links to the faith-based Gülen movement in a series of coordinated operations across multiple provinces in the last two days, the Stockholm Center for Freedom reported, citing Turkish media.
The police operations, based on three separate investigations, focused on dismantling what officials described as the movement’s clandestine infrastructure, youth recruitment efforts and escape networks facilitating illegal border crossings.
The largest operation was launched by the İzmir Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office and coordinated with counterterrorism and intelligence units.
İzmir prosecutors issued detention orders for 45 people accused of operating covert “cell houses,” where they allegedly continued organizational activities and assisted members seeking to flee Turkey via unlawful means. These individuals were also accused of working to sustain the group’s base by recruiting new followers. Simultaneous raids were conducted in İzmir, Ankara, Aydın, Balıkesir, Kocaeli and Denizli, resulting in the detention of 40 suspects. Digital materials and cash were seized during the operation. While three suspects remain abroad, authorities are continuing efforts to locate two others.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been targeting followers of the movement, inspired by the late Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, since corruption investigations revealed in 2013 implicated then-prime minister Erdoğan as well as some of his family members and inner circle.
Dismissing the investigations as a Gülenist coup and a conspiracy against his government, Erdoğan began to target the movement’s members. He designated the movement as a terrorist organization in May 2016 and intensified the crackdown on it following an abortive putsch in July of the same year that he accused Gülen of masterminding. The movement strongly denies involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.
In a separate investigation overseen by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, 11 suspects were detained for allegedly organizing regular cultural and recreational events such as cinema outings, bowling sessions, excursions and camps to foster loyalty to the movement among students in primary and secondary schools.
A third operation focused on alleged movement members attempting to flee the crackdown. The authorities detained five people, including C.M.Ç., a dismissed family and social policy specialist; A.Ö., a former police chief; F.D., a discharged Air Force noncommissioned officer; and S.Ü. and H.İ., both previously employed at institutions linked to the movement.
Following the failed coup, the Turkish government declared a state of emergency and carried out a massive purge of state institutions under the pretext of an anti-coup fight. Over 130,000 public servants, including 4,156 judges and prosecutors, and more than 24,000 members of the armed forces were summarily removed from their jobs for alleged membership in or relationships with “terrorist organizations” by emergency decree-laws subject to neither judicial nor parliamentary scrutiny.
In addition to the thousands who were jailed, scores of other Gülen movement followers had to flee Turkey to avoid the government crackdown.