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Turkey seeks nearly 350 arrests over Gulen ties: report
ANKARA, July 6, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Turkish police on Friday launched
nationwide raids to detain nearly 350 people, including soldiers, accused of
links to the group blamed for the July 2016 failed coup, state media
reported.
Prosecutors in Istanbul issued arrest warrants for 271 soldiers, 122 of
whom are still on active duty, as part of a probe into followers of US-based
Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen in the Turkish armed forces, news agency
Anadolu reported.
Turkey has accused Gulen of ordering the attempted overthrow of President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan on July 15, 2016 — a charge he strongly denies.
The raids were spread across 47 provinces, including the western province
of Izmir, where prosecutors issued 75 warrants as part of an investigation
into a Gulen “cell inside the armed forces”, the agency added.
Over 77,000 people including military personnel have been arrested over
alleged Gulen links under the post-coup state of emergency imposed nearly two
years ago. Ankara’s Western allies including the European Union have
expressed concern over the scale of the purge which has seen more than
140,000 people suspended or sacked from the public sector, including judges,
soldiers and police.
But Ankara insists the raids are necessary to remove the “virus” of caused
by the Gulen movement’s infiltration of key Turkish institutions.
Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999,
insists his movement is peaceful and promotes moderate Islam.
BSS/AFP/RY/1430 hrs