Arrest warrants have been issued for 125 people in 32 provinces as part of a Konya-based investigation targeting alleged followers of the faith-based Gülen movement, the Doğan news agency reported on Wednesday.
According to the report, the Konya Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office issued arrest warrants for 125 people including teachers and doctors on accusations that they were affiliated with the Gülen movement, accused by the Turkish government of orchestrating a botched coup attempt in July 2016.
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 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 July, 2016.