Turkey has ordered the arrest of 168 people, including military personnel, over suspected links to opposition cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara blames for a failed coup in 2016.
The Istanbul prosecutor’s office issued arrest warrants for two civilians and 52 military personnel, including two retired colonels, a lieutenant colonel on active duty, and two former majors, who had already been dismissed from the military. Over half of them were arrested by early Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Istanbul police detained 15 people on charges of using ByLock, an encrypted messaging app used by Gulen’s supporters.
State-run Anadolu news agency reported that prosecutors in the central province of Konya had issued detention warrants for 50 people over that charge. The news agency added that 36 soldiers as well as one civilian were also ordered detained by Ankara prosecutors.
During the 2016 botched putsch, a faction of the Turkish military declared that it had seized control of the country and the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was no more in charge. The attempt was, however, suppressed a few hours later.
Ankara has since accused US-based 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.
Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, has denounced the “despicable putsch” and reiterated that he had no role in it.
Tens of thousands of people have been arrested in Turkey on suspicion of having links to Gulen and the failed coup. About 150,000 civil servants, military personnel and others 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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