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10 detained in İstanbul-based coup probe over Gülen links

Turkish police, in an İstanbul-based coup probe, on Monday detained 10 former executives of a youth education foundation that was closed by government decree over alleged links to the Gülen movement, CNN Türk reported.

According to the report, detention warrants have been issued for 26 people working as executives for the foundation.

Turkey survived a military coup attempt on July 15, 2016 that killed 249 people and wounded more than a thousand others. Immediately after the putsch the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government along with President Tayyip Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement.

Fethullah Gülen, who inspired the movement, strongly denied having any role in the failed coup and called for an international investigation into it, but President Erdoğan — calling the coup attempt “a gift from God” — and the government 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.

Turkey has suspended or dismissed more than 150,000 judges, teachers, police and civil servants since the coup through government decrees issued as part of the state of emergency.

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