Turkish police detained 14 individuals on Tuesday over alleged links to the faith-based Gülen movement in a series of coordinated house raids in three provinces, the Stockholm Center for Freedom reported, citing NTV news website.
Detention warrants were issued by the Adana Chief Public Prosecutor’s office. The accusations against the detainees include attempting to recruit new members.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been targeting followers of the Gülen movement, inspired by late Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen, since the corruption investigations of December 17-25, 2013, which implicated then-Prime Minister Erdoğan, his family members and his inner circle.
Dismissing the investigations as a Gülenist coup and conspiracy against his government, Erdoğan designated the movement as a terrorist organization and began to target its members. He intensified the crackdown on the movement following an abortive putsch that he accused Gülen of masterminding. Gülen and the movement strongly deny involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.
Since the coup attempt, more than 705,172 people have been investigated on terrorism related charges due to their alleged links to the movement. There are at least 13,251 people in prison who are being held in pretrial detention or convicted of terrorism charges in Gülen-linked trials.
In addition to the thousands who were jailed, scores of other Gülen movement followers had to flee Turkey to avoid the government crackdown.