Turkey orders 532 arrests in military probe over Gulen links: Report

ISTANBUL: Turkish prosecutors ordered the arrest of 532 suspects including 459 serving military personnel in an operation targeting people linked to a Muslim cleric who Ankara says was behind a 2016 attempted coup, state-owned Anadolu news agency said on Monday.

The investigation was being conducted in 62 provinces as part of a sustained crackdown against the network of U.S.-based preacher Fethullah Gulen. More than 250 people were killed in the failed putsch in July 2016. Gulen denies any involvement.

Istanbul prosecutors ordered the arrest of 258 suspects, with the serving personnel including four colonels, one lieutenant colonel, nine majors and 24 captains, Anadolu said. Prosecutors in the western Turkish city of Izmir sought the detention of 274 people, also mostly serving military personnel.

In the wake of the coup attempt, about 80,000 people were held pending trial and some 150,000 civil servants, military personnel and others were sacked or suspended. More than 20,000 people have been expelled from the Turkish military.

Turkish police on December 17, 2019 detained 181 people suspected of ties to a group blamed for a 2016 coup attempt, the Ankara public prosecutor’s office said.

The detentions came after the capital’s public prosecutor issued arrest warrants for 260 suspects accused of using the encrypted ByLock messaging application which authorities believe was used to coordinate the coup bid.

Another 18 suspects, including 10 doctors, were sought in a second probe. Officers have so far detained 171 people in Ankara and another 10 suspects elsewhere, the office said without giving details. Tens of thousands have been arrested over alleged ties to US-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen who Ankara says ordered the failed coup. Gulen denies this.

Since the failed overthrow of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, authorities have also sacked or suspended over 140,000 public sector workers over suspected links to Gulen.