Deutsche Welle (English edition)
Turkey seeks arrest of over 500 coup suspects: Anadolu
Turkish prosecutors have issued arrest warrants for 532 people alleged to have links to a suspected coup mastermind. Critics say such crackdowns aim to quell any political dissent.
Turkey has ordered the arrest of 532 suspects who are alleged to have links with Fethullah Gulen, the US-based cleric Ankara blames for an attempted coup in 2016, the stateowned Anadolu news agency reported on Monday.
The investigation covering 62 provinces is part of a long-running crackdown that has seen tens of thousands of people brought to trial or sacked or suspended from their jobs since the coup attempt.
Alleged terrorist organization
Anadolu said 459 of the suspects were military personnel on active duty.
Turkey has classed Gulen's FETO movement as a terrorist organization. It claims that he was not only behind the coup but has tried for decades to infiltrate state institutions, including the army.
Gulen, a former ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, denies any involvement in any such activities, but authorities have continued to target anyone with suspected links to the cleric.
Some 80,000 people were held pending trial, while some 150,000 civil servants, military personnel and others lost their jobs permanently or temporarily in the aftermath of the coup attempt, in which more than 250 died.
protests in 2014," Kofler said.
Demirtas' wife speaks to DW
Basak Demirtas, wife of the arrested HDP co-leader, talked to DW about her doubts surrounding the legitimacy of the proceedings.
"My husband was not guilty of anything and only stood up for democracy and peace. He is not to blame. Unfortunately, we see that the legal system in our country has not worked for a long time," she told DW.
"Therefore, it is not possible to predict what will happen. No matter what the outcome of the trial, we will continue the struggle."
What role does HDP play in Turkish politics?
The HDP is the second-largest opposition party in the Turkish parliament. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has long considered the party to be the political wing of the militant Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), which is classed as a terrorist organization.
HDP has denied any links, but this has not stopped Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its coalition partner, the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) from pushing for a complete legal ban of the pro-Kurdish party.
Demirtas has been held in the high-security prison in the northwestern city of Edirne since November 2016 despite a lack of major evidence against him.
Under his and other coleader Yüksekdag's leadership, the party was able to gain support outside of traditional Kurdish regions and surpass the 10% electoral hurdle to enter parliament for the first time in 2015.