Twenty-seven soldiers have been detained in police raids in six cities across Turkey as part of an investigation into the faith-based Gülen movement, which Turkish authorities blame for a failed coup last year.
According to the Sabah daily, a Kocaeli court issued detention warrants for 32 soldiers as part of an investigation by the Kocaeli Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Twenty-seven out of the 32 were detained in simultaneous police raids in Kocaeli, Van, İzmir, Ankara, Bursa and Muğla early Tuesday.
Twenty-five out of the 27 detainees were on active duty, while two of them were suspended after the failed coup on July 15, 2016 over their links to the movement.
Despite Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, whose views inspired the Gülen movement, and the movement having denied the accusations, Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan launched 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.
According to a tally by TurkeyPurge.com, nearly 146,000 people, including some 10,000 soldiers, have been dismissed from government jobs, more than 122,00 detained and almost 57,000 arrested over links to the movement.