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Turkey jails 523 soldiers in past year on coup-related charges: state news agency

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Over the past year a total of 523 soldiers were arrested among 989 military members for whom detention warrants were issued by Turkish prosecutors on charges related to a failed coup in 2016, the state-owned Anadolu news agency reported on Wednesday.

While 159 are still at large, 307 soldiers were released on judicial supervision under the remorse law.

Turkish authorities believe the Gülen movement was responsible for the abortive putsch, which left 249 people dead, despite the movement’s strong denial of any involvement.

In addition to soldiers, some 200 civilians who were accused of contact with allegedly Gülen-linked soldiers in order to infiltrate the Turkish army were also arrested as part of the same investigations.

During the two year-long state of emergency declared immediately after the coup attempt the Turkish government dismissed some 140,000 civil servants by decree, and more than 600,000 people were investigated on terrorism charges, mostly on accusations of Gülen links.

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