News / Turkey

Turkey targets 155 people over suspected Gulen links

Friday, 23 March 2018 2:03 PM [ Last Update: Friday, 23 March 2018 2:06 PM ]

Riot police detain a protester during the trial of two Turkish teachers who went on a hunger strike over their dismissal under a government decree following the failed coup of 2016, outside of a courthouse in Ankara, Turkey, September 14, 2017. (Photo by Reuters)

Turkey has launched new operations to arrest 155 suspected followers of Fethullah Gulen, a US-based cleric whom Ankara blames for the failed 2016 coup.

Turkey witnessed a coup attempt on July 15, 2016, when a faction of the military declared that the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was no more in charge of the country. However, over the course of some two days, the putsch was suppressed. Almost 250 people were killed and nearly 2,200 others wounded in the abortive coup. Gulen has denied charges of having masterminded the coup.

According to Istanbul police, arrest warrants were issued on Friday for 55 employees of Isik Publications, a publishing company that printed Gulen's books, in 13 provinces.

Meanwhile, state-run Anadolu news agency reported that warrants were also issued for 38 former police officers in six provinces for their alleged links to Gulen's network. Twenty-four had been arrested, it said.

The news agency further said police also targeted 62 executives of five labor unions in a third operation spread across seven provinces, adding 38 people had been detained.

The labor unions were part of Aksiyon Is Confederation, an association of unions that the government closed over suspected links to the Gulen network.

The new wave of arrests comes despite a UN call for an end to the state of emergency in place in the country since the failed coup that led to "human rights violations", including the arrest of 160,000 people and dismissal of nearly the same number of civil servants.

Turkish President and leader of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Recep Tayyip Erdogan gestures as he delivers a speech during the AK Party's parliamentary group meeting at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) in Ankara on March 20, 2018. (Photo by AFP)

President Erdogan declared a three-month state of emergency after the coup attempt in July 2016, and has so far extended it for six times.

Turkey's Foreign Ministry slammed the UN report, saying it was filled with unfounded allegations.

Rights groups and European governments have repeatedly criticized Ankara for the continued crackdown, saying the government is using the coup as a pretext to muzzle the dissent.

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