Detention warrants were issued for 58 people by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office on Tuesday on accusations that they were linked to the Kimse Yok Mu aid organization, affiliated with the faith-based Gülen movement, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
According to the story, 31 of 58 people were detained during police operations in 10 provinces across Turkey.
The Kimse Yok Mu Foundation, which was closed down by a government decree in the aftermath of a failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016, used to function as the corporate body of aid and relief activities for the Gülen movement, taking relief to millions of people around Turkey and the world.
The Turkish Interior Ministry announced on Oct. 16 that 947 people have been detained in one week as part of a witch hunt targeting the Gülen movement.
Immediately after the putsch the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government along with President Recep 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 15 through government decrees issued as part of the state of emergency.
The Human Rights Association (İHD) reported on Oct. 16 that a total of 4,240 judges and prosecutors were dismissed by Turkey’s Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK).
Forty-eight private health companies were closed, and two were allowed to reopen. Some 2,350 private schools, courses and dormitories, 15 private universities, 19 unions and confederations, 1,412 association and 139 foundations were closed by the government under emergency rule.
Nine hundred sixty-nine private companies valued at TL 41 billion with a workforce of 47,000 were seized by the government.
One hundred eighty-five media companies were closed. Only 23 of them were allowed to restart operations. One hundred seventy-four journalists are still in prison, and 889 press cards were cancelled in 2016 alone.