Ankara Public Prosecutor’s Office issued detention orders for 2,745 judges and prosecutors, after they were removed from their posts at an extraordinary meeting by the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) on Saturday, a day after a failed coup attempt by a group of soldiers in Turkey.
Detention orders were issued as part of an investigation into the failed coup attempt, which has been carried out by the bureau in charge of offenses against the constitutional order. The orders were issued on suspicions that include “membership in a terrorist organization.”
The prosecutor’s office also issued detention orders for high judiciary members that include 140 Supreme Court of Appeals members, 48 Council of State members, 5 HSYK members and the Constitutional Court member Alparslan Altan based on the same suspicion.
A group of soldiers attempted a military coup that started around 10 p.m. on Friday, when military tanks rolled onto the streets of Ankara and İstanbul and soldiers blocked the Bosphorus Bridge and the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge. The military’s claim of a takeover was read on state broadcaster TRT. The anchor said the military imposed martial law and declared a curfew until further notice.
However, the coup attempt lost momentum after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan returned from vacation at the seaside resort of Marmaris.
At least 161 people, including soldiers and police, were killed and 1,440 others were injured, while 2,839 soldiers were detained so far, according to Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım’s statement on Saturday.