Lt. Zabit Zengin, gendarmerie commander in the Maçka district of northeastern Trabzon province, was detained on Wednesday as part of an İzmir-based investigation into the Gülen movement, which is accused by Turkish authorities of being behind a failed coup last year.
According to the Habertürk daily, Zengin was detained by police from the counterterrorism unit of the Trabzon Police Department on Wednesday and taken to Trabzon for interrogation.
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.
Despite Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, whose views inspired the Gülen movement, and the movement having denied the coup 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.