Turkish police have detained nine active and former police officers in Eskişehir province due to alleged links to the Gülen movement, accused of mounting a botched coup attempt last July, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu new agency reported on Monday.
According to the report, simultaneous operations were carried out in the province by the anti-terror branch as part of an investigation into the alleged followers of the Gülen movement by the Eskişehir Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Nine police officers, some of whom were dismissed by government decree under an ongoing state of emergency, were detained during the operations.
The military coup attempt on July 15, 2016 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.