Eight policemen released in mass operation at police departments

Eight policemen, who were detained in operations targeting the “parallel state,” were released early July 25 after being questioned by the Istanbul Public Prosecutors’ Office. 

Some 14 other police officers have been sent to court with demands for their arrest. The officers face charges of “crime against the government, forgery of official documents, obtaining data regarding the safety of the state, professional misconduct, damaging, changing and destroying data and violating the confidentiality of communication.”

A total of 114 officers have been detained so far as part of the two separate investigations held on July 22 and 23 in Istanbul and other cities, including the capital Ankara, Ä°zmir and Diyarbakır. The remaining officers under detention at the Istanbul police department are expected to be sent to court on July 25 following questioning by prosecutors. 

In two separate operations, dozens of senior police officers suspected of being linked to the Fethullah Gülen movement, or what the government calls the “parallel state,” were detained on the grounds of espionage and illegal wiretapping, with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan indicating that the probes would be widened.

“This isn’t done – this is just the beginning. Those who have threatened our national security will be called to account for this. I declare that I will go after this parallel structure until the end, after I become president,” Erdoğan said late July 23, delivering a speech at a rally in the southern province of Adana.