Turkey orders detention of more than 400 people with alleged Gülen links

Turkish authorities have ordered the detention of 414 people, mainly military personnel, over their suspected links to the movement of the U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen, which is the group widely believed to have orchestrated the July 15, 2016 failed coup attempt.

Duvar English - Reuters

Turkish authorities have ordered the detention of 414 people, mainly military personnel, over their suspected links to the movement of the U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen.

One police operation to detain 191 suspects was coordinated from the western city of İzmir and targeted people in 22 provinces.

Separately, an Istanbul prosecutor ordered the detention of 158 people including military personnel, doctors and teachers.

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Detention warrants were issued for 32 people as part of another operation targeting members of air force with suspected links. Turkish authorities were also seeking to detain 33 people from gendarmerie forces and others.

In a separate operation, police detained 16 military personnel in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır over the weekend, security sources said. On June 9, a local court jailed six of them pending trial and freed 10 others, the sources added.

Since the July 15, 2016 failed coup attempt that's believed to be orchestrated by Gülen, about 80,000 people have been held pending trial and some 150,000 civil servants, military personnel and others sacked or suspended.