As part of a relentless purge carried out by the government following a failed coup on July 15, police have detained 30 academics and students at İzmir’s leading Dokuz Eylül University.
Detention warrants were reportedly issued for a total of 55 faculty members and students, with a police raid carried out in 12 districts around İzmir.
Use of the ByLock smart phone application is cited as a reason for detention since it is portrayed as “evidence” of coup plotting by the government. The government holds the Gülen movement responsible for the coup despite the lack of credible evidence.
On Monday, an interview conducted by Hürriyet daily journalist İsmail Saymaz with the author of this mobile phone application that enables instant messaging has seemed to invalidate the main argument of the government that the coup plotters used this application among themselves since the app has not been in use at all throughout 2016.
In an unprecedented purge, Turkey has been arresting and dismissing thousands of academics over alleged Gülen movement links and charges of coup plotting since July 15.