A huge cleansing of Turkey’s state and other institutions is continuing as people from all walks of life find themselves being hunted down and taken into custody.
At least 402 people were arrested, while 293 others were detained over the past 24 hours, according to Turkish news agencies. Meanwhile, 154 academics and university staff were suspended along with 39 public servants in three provinces.
Police carried out the operations in 40 provinces across Turkey. With most of the arrestees being former police officers, those arrested over the past day also included teachers, businessmen, military officers, hospital personnel, academics, judges and court personnel.
Among the detainees are Council of State personnel, businessmen, prosecutors and police officers.
The victims of Thursday’s operations carried out as part of the massive purge have been added to the already-huge group of people who have been either detained or arrested since July 15.
Turkey survived a military coup attempt that killed over 240 people and wounded a thousand others, on July 15. Immediately after the putsch, the government along with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement and launched a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting them in custody.
Some 82,000 people have been purged from state bodies, nearly 40,000 detained and 20,000 arrested since the coup attempt. Arrestees included journalists, judges, prosecutors, police and military officers, academics, governors and even a comedian. (Turkey Purge)