Turkey detains nearly 35 individuals over alleged connection to 2016 coup attempt

Turkey has detained nearly 35 individuals on Friday for the alleged connection to a network suspected of organising a 2016 coup attempt, reported by a semi-official Anadolu Agency. According to ANI, as part of an investigation into the infiltration of supporters of the Gulen Movement into state institutions, the chief prosecutor of Turkey's capital, Ankara, has issued arrest warrants for 51 individuals in 19 different locations around the country. The individuals are suspected of utilising prepaid landlines to communicate with Gulen's clandestine "imams."

The administration of Turkey accused the Gulen movement of entering into the Turkish administration's bureaucracy before trying a coup on July 15, 2016. Ankara claims that Fethullah Gulen, a United States bases Muslim cleric, was the mastermind who supported the 2016 coup attempt, which resulted in the deaths of estimated 250 people. Gulen, who has lived in rural Pennsylvania since 1999, dismisses the charges levelled on him. Following the attempted coup, the state administration issued a state of emergency and started a significant crackdown upon his network.    

Earlier, at the beginning of September of this year, Turkish prosecutors have filed arrest warrants against 214 serving and retired military members for alleged connections to the 2016 coup attempt. According to Anadolu Agency, the probe, which prosecutors conducted in the western city of Izmir, has resulted in 137 detentions in 41 provinces so far. The majority of the accused were expelled from the military, but 44 of the military members were still serving. A colonel with the highest ranking is one of the suspects of the 2016 coup attempt. 

Turkey continues to conduct mass arrests suspected supporters of Fethullah Gulen. Turkey has labelled Gulen's network as the Fethullahist Terror Organization, or FETO, which they consider the terrorist organisation. Since then, about 4,900 individuals have been condemned to jail, with approximately 3,000 receiving life sentences. Over 130,000 individuals were laid off from government employment, which also includes over 20,000 military members.  

While, the Gulen movement is basically a well-organised group of individuals, not a political organisation, named after Fethullah Gulen. As per the BBC, his supporters had seen him as a spiritual leader, and he is frequently referred to as Turkey's second most influential man. It is said that the movement which the imam advocated was for a tolerant Islam based on compassion, humility, hard labour, and education. 

Image: ANI/ AP