News / Turkey

Turkey issues arrest warrants for nearly 190 over affiliation to Gulen network

Thursday, 10 May 2018 12:29 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 10 May 2018 4:56 PM ]

Paramilitary police and special force members walk outside the courthouse as nearly 500 suspects, including a number of generals and military pilots, accused of leading the July 2016 coup attempt and carrying out attacks from an air base in Ankara arrive for trial in Ankara, Turkey, on August 1, 2017. (Photo by AP)

Turkish prosecutors have issued arrest warrants for nearly 190 people on suspicion of affiliation to a movement led by US-based opposition cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom the Ankara government accuses of having masterminded the July 2016 coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

A judicial source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Thursday the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Offices in the western province of Izmir had issued arrest warrants for 96 people, including 91 suspended soldiers who served the Turkish Air Forces Command.

The source added that 93 arrest warrants had also been issued in the capital Ankara for former employees of a school linked to Gulen’s movement, outlawed and branded by Ankara as the Fethullah Terrorist Organization (FETO).

A police operation is reportedly underway to apprehend the suspects.

During the botched putsch, a faction of the Turkish military declared that it had seized control of the country and the government of Erdogan was no more in charge. The attempt was, however, suppressed a few hours later.

Ankara has since accused Gulen of having orchestrated the coup. The opposition figure is also accused of being behind a long-running campaign to topple the government via infiltrating the country’s institutions, particularly the army, police and the judiciary.

In this file photo, Turkish cleric and opposition figure Fethullah Gulen speaks to members of the media at his residence in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, the United States. (Photo by AP)

Gulen has denounced the “despicable putsch” and reiterated that he had no role in it.

“Accusations against me related to the coup attempt are baseless and politically-motivated slanders,” he said in a statement.

The 77-year-old cleric has also called on Ankara to end its “witch hunt” of his followers, a move he says is aimed at “weeding out anyone it deems disloyal to President Erdogan and his regime.”

Turkish officials have frequently called on their US counterparts to extradite Gulen, but their demands have not been taken heed of.

Turkey, which remains in a state of emergency since the coup, has been engaged in suppressing the media and opposition groups suspected to have played a role in the failed coup.

Tens of thousands of people have been arrested in Turkey on suspicion of having links to Gulen and the failed coup. More than 110,000 others, including military staff, civil servants and journalists, have been sacked or suspended from work over the same accusations.

The international community and rights groups have been highly critical of the Turkish president over the massive dismissals and the crackdown.

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