Turkey Detains 184 Alleged ‘Gulenists’ as Crackdown Continues

A Turkish flag  in Istanbul, May 2020. Photo: EPA-EFE/ERDEM SAHIN

Prosecutors in the cities of Izmir and Ankara ordered the arrests based on information from the Turkish National Intelligence Agency, alleging that the suspects have links to US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is accused by Ankara of mounting a failed coup in 2016.

"As part of an ongoing investigation, an operation was started to detain military officers whose connections were detected with FETO," the Ankara Persecutors Office said in a statement.

FETO, or the Fethullahist Terrorist Organisation, is the name given by the Turkish government to the movement founded by Gulen.

The suspects are accused of communicating with senior Gulenists from telephone kiosks.

The operation was one of the largest operations against alleged Gulenists since the failed coup attempt in 2016.

Those detained include two colonels, seven majors, ten captains, 24 lieutenants and 103 sergeants. Thirty-eight of them are military cadets. Detainees were serving or served in various branches of the Turkish Armed Forces.

Other detainees include former teachers who have alleged links with Gulen's network and people who are accused of helping Gulenists to flee the country.

According to Turkey's Demiroren News Agency, the prosecutor's office in Izmir also announced that 679 military personnel have been dismissed from service since October 13, 2020 as part of ongoing investigations.

The Turkish government under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accuses Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in the US since 1999, and his network of operating a parallel structure within the Turkish state and orchestrating the coup attempt in July 2016.

Gulen has denied the accusations.

...