Turkey | 82 military personnel arrested for alleged Gulen links

Defence Redefined

01/12/2020

Turkish authorities have ordered the arrest of 82 Turkish military personnel in an operation launched by supporters of Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen, who is accused of a failed coup in 2016, the Turkish news agency Anadolu reported today.

Operations targeting the US-based Gulen network continue as part of a crackdown on Turkish authorities four years after the failed coup in July 2016. Gulen denies involvement in this attempt during which approximately 250 people lost their lives.

The operation now spans 39 provinces and 63 people have already been arrested, according to Anadolu. Of the 82 suspects, 70 are serving in the military.

The arrests were ordered by the head of the Izmir provincial prosecutor’s office, according to Anadolu, who added that the prosecutor’s office had launched proceedings to sack 848 military personnel, including high-ranking officers, for alleged links to the Gulen network.

Following the coup attempt, some 80,000 people have been arrested pending trial and some 150,000 civil servants, military personnel and others have been sacked or suspended. More than 20,000 are estimated to be just those who have been suspended from the ranks of the Turkish army.

Last week, a Turkish court sentenced a leader to life in prison for plotting to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Also read: Large-scale operation of persecutions and arrests in the Turkish Armed Forces

Source: ΑPE ΜPΕ