Turkish authorities order to arrest 61 soldiers over affiliation to Gulen movement
Turkish authorities have ordered the arrest of 61 soldiers from the navy and land forces, including senior officers, on suspicion of affiliation to a movement led by US-based opposition cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of having masterminded and orchestrated the mid-July 2016 coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
According to a report by Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency on Monday, 18 of those ordered to be detained were on active duty as part of a probe into the Turkish Land Forces Command and the Turkish Naval Forces Command.
Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office issued the arrest warrants on Monday as part of a probe into the Turkish Land Forces Command and the Turkish Naval Forces Command, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
It also said that 18 of those suspects were on-duty servicemen, adding that the total number of those ordered to be detained included 13 majors and 12 captains from the land forces and 24 first lieutenants from the navy.
In a separate report on Monday, Anadolu said that Istanbul police detained 21 people, who were accused of using an encrypted messaging application, known as ByLock, allegedly used by members of the Gulen movement.
It added that the arrests were made after police forces conducted anti-terror raids at 54 locations in 24 districts of the city.
According to Istanbul police, most of those detained were teachers who formerly taught at the network’s schools or public institutions.
During the attempted coup, 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.
Gulen has denounced the “despicable putsch” and reiterated that he had no role in it.
Turkish officials have frequently called on their US counterparts to extradite Gulen, but their demands have not been taken heed of yet.
Turkey 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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