A huge cleansing of Turkey’s state and other institutions is continuing as people from all walks of life find themselves hunted down and taken into custody.
At least 218 people were arrested while 421 others were detained over the past 24 hours, according to Turkish news agencies.
Police carried out the operations in 35 provinces across Turkey. With most of the arrestees being former police officers, those arrested over the past day also included teachers, businessmen, academics, court staff, military officers, lawyers and a former Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) deputy.
Among the detainees are civil servants, businessmen, teachers, police officers, lawyers, shopkeepers, imams, doctors and hospital staff, court personnel and a deputy governor.
The victims of Friday’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 on July 15 that killed over 240 people and wounded more than a thousand others. Immediately after the putsch, the government along with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement. Despite Gülen and the movement having denied the accusation, Erdoğan — calling the coup attempt “a gift from God” — and the government launched a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting them in custody.
Thousands of people have been purged from state bodies, over 41,000 detained and more than 22,000 arrested since the coup attempt. Arrestees included journalists, judges, prosecutors, police and military officers, academics, businessmen, governors and even a comedian. (Turkey Purge)