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885 people detained in past week over Gülen links

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A total of 885 people have been detained in the past week as part of a crackdown targeting alleged members of the Gülen movement, according to a statement issued by the Turkish Interior Ministry on Monday.

15,190 people were detained over alleged links with the movement in first half of the year.

President Erdoğan and his ruling AKP government pursued a crackdown on the movement following corruption operations in December 2013 in which the inner circle of the government and then-Prime Minister Erdoğan were implicated.

Erdoğan also accuses the Gülen movement of masterminding the failed coup attempt in July 2016.

Despite the movement strongly denying involvement in the failed coup, Erdoğan launched a witch-hunt targeting the group following the putsch.

The Turkish government on Sunday issued a decree-law firing 18,632 civil servants due to their alleged ties to “terrorist groups” and closing 12 associations, three newspapers and one TV station.

With the latest decree, the total number of dismissed civil servants now exceeds 160,000 since the coup attempt on July 15, 2016.

According to a European Commission (EC) report on April 17, since the introduction of the state of emergency on July 20, 2016, over 150 000 people were taken into custody, 78 000 were arrested.

Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu on Dec. 12, 2017 said 234,419 passports had been revoked as part of investigations into the Gülen movement since a failed coup.

On Nov. 16, 2017 Soylu had said eight holdings and 1,020 companies were seized as part of operations against the movement.

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