Turkish police have detained 182 soldiers and police officers in a new wave of arrests targeting people accused of ties to the Gülen movement, according to the state-run Anadolu news agency.
The detentions are part of a long-running crackdown against followers of Fethullah Gülen, an Islamic cleric who lived in exile in the United States until his death in October 2024. The Turkish government accuses the Gülen movement of orchestrating a failed coup on July 15, 2016, a charge the movement strongly denies. Gülen and his supporters consistently rejected allegations of involvement in the coup or any affiliation with terrorism.
In a coordinated operation across İstanbul, İzmir and 41 other provinces, Turkish police detained 163 of 176 suspects for whom detention warrants had been issued as part of an investigation led jointly by the İstanbul and İzmir chief public prosecutor’s offices, Anadolu reported.
The suspects include 174 active-duty military personnel, among them colonels, lieutenant colonels, majors, captains, lieutenants and noncommissioned officers.
The İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement that the detentions targeted individuals believed to have used payphones and fixed lines in a manner consistent with the movement’s alleged covert communication practices, a method Turkish authorities describe as key to identifying members in the military.
The statement did not specify the exact charges against the suspects.
In a similar operation in May, 62 active-duty officers were detained over their alleged links to the Gülen movement, 61 of whom were subsequently arrested.
Police officers also targeted
In a separate operation, 21 suspects, including 13 active-duty police officers and six former police officers, were detained across 14 provinces as part of an investigation led by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. Prosecutors allege the suspects were involved in the movement’s activities in the law enforcement structures.
The operations were carried out in coordination with the Ministry of Defense, the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) and the counterterrorism departments of the national and provincial police forces.
Once praised by Turkish leaders for its contributions to education, social welfare and interfaith dialogue, the Gülen movement has been labeled as a “terrorist organization” by the Turkish government since May 2016, a designation not recognized by the United States, the European Union or major international bodies.
The movement’s followers, also known as Hizmet (Service) supporters, say they have been unfairly targeted in a campaign of political persecution aimed at silencing dissent and consolidating power. The post-coup purge has seen hundreds of thousands investigated and tens of thousands imprisoned on terrorism-related charges widely viewed as politically motivated.
Ahead of the coup attempt’s eighth anniversary last July, Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç said that more than 705,000 people had been investigated since 2016 over alleged Gülen ties. As of July 2023, at least 13,251 individuals were reported to be either in pretrial detention or serving prison sentences for “terrorism” linked to the movement.
These figures are thought to have increased over the past 10 months since the operations targeting Gülen followers continue unabated. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and several government ministers said there would be no “slackening” in the fight against the movement following the cleric’s death at the age of 83.
Rights groups and international observers have repeatedly criticized the breadth of the crackdown, which has resulted in the dismissal of some 130,000 public servants and 24,000 members of the military, including high-ranking officers.
In a November 2022 statement, then-defense minister Hulusi Akar confirmed that 24,706 military personnel had been expelled from the TSK due to alleged affiliation with the movement.
The latest detentions come at a time when a newly adopted law will allow President Erdoğan to unilaterally change the time-in-rank requirements for promotions in the TSK, a move that further expands his control over the military.
The measure, approved by parliament last week as part of a broader legislative package amending multiple laws and decrees, enables Erdoğan to adjust promotion wait times by presidential decree when imbalances occur in the rank distribution of the military services.