Over 9,000 officers in Turkey are suspended

TURKEY on Wednesday suspended over 9,100 police in a vast new crackdown against alleged supporters of the US-based preacher accused of orchestrating the coup bid against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Dawn raids across the country were followed by a statement from police that 9,103 police officers were being suspended on suspicion of links to Fethullah Gulen. Turkish authorities also announced that over 1,000 of his alleged supporters had been detained the same day.

The new wave of the crackdown came just over a week after Erdogan narrowly won a controversial referendum on increasing his powers, which opponents fear will hand him one-man rule.

A total of 1,120 suspects have so far been detained, the official Anadolu news agency said. Anadolu said 4,672 suspects were sought in Wednesday’s raids – of whom 1,448 are already in jail – meaning that a total of 3,224 arrest warrants were issued.

The 9,103 police officers were being suspended on suspicion of links or contacts to Gulen’s group, on the grounds of national security, the police force said in a statement on its website.

Turkish authorities blame Gulen for masterminding the July 2016 failed military coup that aimed to oust Erdogan from power, but he denies the charges. The government has repeatedly asked the United States to extradite Gulen, who has been living in exile there since 1999.

The operation targeted big cities such as Istanbul as well as Izmir in western Turkey and Konya in the Anatolian heartland. Prime Minister Binali Yildirim had hinted this month