A newly published report by the Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security briefing the relevant authorities on asylum applications notes that Turkish authorities continue to detain, prosecute and socially exclude individuals accused of ties to the Gülen movement, a faith-based group outlawed in Turkey and blamed for a coup attempt in 2016, an accusation the group denies.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been targeting followers of the Gülen movement, inspired by the late Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen, since corruption investigations revealed in December 2013 implicated then-prime minister Erdoğan as well as some members of his family and inner circle.
Dismissing the investigations as a Gülenist coup and a 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 the abortive putsch in 2016 that he accused Gülen of masterminding. The movement strongly denies involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.
The Dutch government’s report provides an update on the situation of alleged Gülenists in Turkey, covering the period from September 2023 to February 20, 2025. The report notes that while the scale of arrests and detentions has declined compared to the immediate aftermath of the coup attempt, Turkish authorities remain committed to suppressing the movement.
The report highlights a number of mass detentions of suspected Gülenists, noting that the incidents it mentions are not an exhaustive list and detailing a nationwide operation in October 2023 in which Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced the detention of 611 people, many of whom were accused of using ByLock, an encrypted messaging app that the Turkish government has linked to the movement, and other detentions that continued throughout 2024 and early 2025, with Turkish authorities citing the use of ByLock and other alleged indicators of Gülenist affiliation, such as communicating via pay phone. Between January 10 and October 23, 2024, 27 operations resulted in the detention of 1,824 people, the report said, citing official figures.
Despite the overall decline in arrests since 2016, Turkish authorities continue to monitor and prosecute individuals for alleged ties to the movement, according to the report. Former military officers, police officers and judicial officials remain primary targets, the report states. In December 2023, 445 police officers were suspended for suspected Gülenist links. The report notes that the Turkish government also continues to penalize civilians suspected of assisting imprisoned Gülenists, including those providing financial aid to detainees and their families.
Legal obstacles and social exclusion
The report also enumerates the ongoing legal challenges and social exclusion faced by alleged Gülenists. Turkish courts continue to prosecute individuals using ByLock and other alleged indicators of movement involvement.
ByLock, once widely available online, has been considered a secret tool of communication among supporters of the movement since the coup attempt despite the lack of any evidence that ByLock messages were related to the abortive putsch.
In a landmark decision, the the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled in 2023 that Turkey’s use of the ByLock messaging app as well as bank accounts and labor union membership as criminal evidence to be unlawful. Yet, this and subsequent ECtHR decisions have not changed Turkey’s judicial practices.
Turkish Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç openly rejected the ruling, saying Turkey would not apply it, and the Turkish Constitutional Court similarly dismissed its relevance.
Despite this, some European nations wrongly assume that Turkey’s judicial practices have improved, leading to policy shifts that put asylum seekers at risk of deportation and further persecution.
Many individuals dismissed from public service during the post-coup purge struggle to reintegrate into society. The report notes that former judges, prosecutors and other public sector employees remain on a government blacklist maintained by Turkey’s Social Security Institution (SGK), making it nearly impossible for them to find employment. Private employers can access SGK records through an online portal, further limiting job opportunities for dismissed Gülenists. The issue persists despite legal appeals, with President Erdoğan denouncing a 2024 ruling reinstating 450 dismissed judges and prosecutors.
Family members of alleged Gülenists also face discrimination. The report cites cases of relatives being denied public sector jobs or social benefits due to their family connections. A high-profile example mentioned is the 78-year-old mother of Akın İpek, a prominent businessman linked to the movement, who was imprisoned.
International operations against Gülenists
Turkish authorities have also continued efforts to detain and extradite alleged Gülenists from abroad, according to the Dutch report. The report notes that the United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT) described Turkey’s extraterritorial targeting of Gülenists as “systematic.”
The report details several recent cases, including the October 2024 repatriation of four Gülen-linked individuals from Kenya, despite their refugee status. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) condemned the deportation, calling it a violation of international law. In another case Turkish intelligence agents allegedly abducted and transferred two Gülen-affiliated individuals from Algeria in December 2023.
According to a December 2024 investigative report by The Washington Post, at least 118 individuals accused of Gülenist ties have been forcibly returned to Turkey over the past decade. Many were subsequently prosecuted and convicted on terrorism charges. The newspaper’s investigation, based on court documents, UN reports and interviews with officials and victims, confirmed that Turkey’s campaign to suppress the movement extends far beyond its borders.
In addition to targeting individuals, the Turkish government has sought to dismantle Gülen-affiliated institutions abroad. On December 31, 2024 Kyrgyz authorities announced that all Gülen-linked schools in the country had been transferred to Turkey’s Maarif Foundation, a state-run educational institution established to take over Gülen-affiliated schools worldwide.
Erdoğan vows to continue crackdown
The Dutch report also states that Turkish authorities intensified rhetoric against the Gülen movement following the death of Gülen in exile in Pennsylvania on October 20, 2024. The day after his death, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan vowed that Turkey’s fight against the movement would continue. President Erdoğan reiterated this stance at a regional summit in November, saying, “Our fight against all forms of terrorism, especially against FETÖ [a derogatory acronym used by Ankara to refer to the Gülen movement as a terrorist group], will continue without interruption.”
Despite international criticism, Turkey has made clear that it will persist in its crackdown on Gülenists both within and beyond its borders. The Dutch report concludes that while the intensity of persecution has lessened since the immediate post-coup years, alleged Gülenists in Turkey still face significant legal, social and political consequences.
The findings of the Dutch government’s report echo those of the Turkey Tribunal, an independent civil society initiative that documents human rights violations in Turkey.
The tribunal’s latest report warns that the persecution of suspected Gülenists remains systematic, despite claims of a decline. Both reports highlight that Turkey’s judicial system continues to rely on discredited evidence, such as the use of the ByLock app and financial transactions linked to the movement, while social exclusion policies make reintegration of former detainees nearly impossible.
The Dutch government’s findings underscore the relentless nature of Turkey’s crackdown on alleged Gülenists, a campaign that continues nearly a decade after the coup attempt. Recent mass detentions linked to Maydonoz Döner, a restaurant chain with over 400 locations in Turkey and abroad, where 353 individuals were detained, 126 of whom were later arrested and the company seized, serve as yet another stark reminder that Ankara remains committed to dismantling any network — business, social or educational — that it perceives as tied to the movement.
Despite international legal rulings discrediting the evidence used to prosecute these individuals, Turkish authorities persist in their persecution, showing no signs of scaling back. As European governments reassess their asylum policies for Turkish nationals, human rights advocates warn that deporting individuals with alleged ties to the movement would expose them to persecution, in potential violation of international human rights obligations.