Turkish police teams on Monday detained 25 people in Kahramanmaraş on accusations that they use a smart phone application known as ByLock, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
According to the report, the Kahramanmaraş Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office issued detention warrants for 25 alleged ByLock users, including dismissed civil servants and merchants, as part of an investigation into the faith-based Gülen movement, which is accused by the Turkish government of masterminding a failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016.
The movement strongly denies any involvement in the putsch.
Turkish authorities believe using ByLock is a sign of being a Gülen follower as they see the mobile phone application as the top communication tool among the group.
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 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.