Turkish police have detained 114 people in a İzmir-based probe for their alleged links to the faith based Gülen movement, the t24 news website reported on Tuesday.
The İzmir anti-terror branch team detained 114 people in İzmir, İstanbul, Muğla and Aydın as part of an operation against the Gülen movement, accused by the Turkish government of mounting a botched coup attempt last July.
The military coup attempt on July 15 killed 249 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 and initiated a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting them in custody.
Turkey’s Justice Ministry announced on July 13 that 50,510 people have been arrested and 169,013 have been the subject of legal proceedings on coup charges since the failed coup.