Twenty-seven academics who were previously expelled from the İzmir-based 9 Eylül University through government decrees have been detained due to alleged links to the faith-based Gülen movement, Turkish media reports said on Tuesday.
The academics are reportedly accused of using a smart phone application known as ByLock, having a bank account at the now-closed Gülen-linked bank, Bank Asya, and being members of Gülen-linked foundations.
Turkish authorities believe ByLock is the top communication tool among followers of the Gülen movement, which is accused by the Turkish government of masterminding a failed coup attempt on July 15.
Tens of thousands of civil servants, police officers and businessmen have either been dismissed or arrested for using ByLock since the failed coup attempt.
The military coup attempt on July 15 killed over 240 people and wounded more than a thousand others. Immediately after the putsch, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government along with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement.
Fethullah Gülen, who inspired the movement, strongly denied having any role in the failed coup and called for an international investigation into it, but President Erdoğan — calling the coup attempt “a gift from God” — and the government initiated a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting them in custody.
According to a report by the state-run Anadolu news agency on May 28, 154,694 individuals have been detained and 50,136 have been jailed due to alleged Gülen links since the failed coup attempt.