Turkish police have detained 611 people in raids carried out across the country for alleged links to the Gülen movement, a faith-based group accused by the government of “terrorist” activities, the Stockholm Center for Freedom reported.
The raids conducted in 77 provinces were announced on social media by Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, who said the operation targeted the movement’s financial network.
7⃣7⃣ İLDE FETÖ’YE YÖNELİK EŞ ZAMANLI DÜZENLENEN KISKAÇ OPERASYONLARINDA 6⃣1⃣1⃣ ŞAHIS YAKALANDI❗️
Halkımızın Üzerine Acımasızca Ateş Açan, Gazi Meclis’imizi Bombalamaktan Geri Durmayan, Çaldıkları Sınav Sorularıyla Milyonlarca Gencimizin Geleceğini Çalmaya Çalışanları… pic.twitter.com/89DAqWs52I
— Ali Yerlikaya (@AliYerlikaya) October 24, 2023
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been targeting followers of the Gülen movement, inspired by Turkish Muslim 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 in 2016 that he accused Gülen of masterminding. Gülen and the movement strongly deny involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.
Following the coup attempt, the Turkish government declared a state of emergency and carried out a massive purge of state institutions under the pretext of an anti-coup fight. More than 130,000 civil servants, including 4,156 judges and prosecutors, as well as 24,706 members of the armed forces were summarily removed from their jobs for alleged membership in or relationships with “terrorist organizations” by emergency decree-laws subject to neither judicial nor parliamentary scrutiny.
A recent UK government report noted that in recent years, Turkish authorities increasingly targeted people for helping families of people jailed for alleged Gülen links and people accused of receiving or distributing financial assistance sent by Gülen followers abroad.
In addition to the thousands who were jailed, scores of other Gülen movement followers had to flee Turkey to avoid the government crackdown.