Turkish prosecutors have issued detention warrants for 13 officers at the Naval Forces Command over their alleged links to the Gülen movement, which is accused by the Turkish government of masterminding a failed coup attempt in July 2016, the gazeteduvar news website reported on Monday.
One of the officers for whom a detention warrant was issued is a major, according to the report.
On Monday, Turkish police teams conducted operations across eight provinces to detain the officers as part of the Ankara-based operation.
The Turkish government has dismissed over 40,000 military personnel including gendarmerie and military cadets over alleged links to the Gülen movement since the failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016, the tr724 new website reported on Aug. 4.
Immediately after the putsch, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government along with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement.
Fethullah Gülen, who inspired the movement, strongly denied having any role in the failed coup and called for an international investigation into it, but President Erdoğan — calling the coup attempt “a gift from God” — and the government initiated a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting them in custody.
The government has been at the center of criticism for turning the Turkish Armed Forces into a political Islamist military in line with the wishes of President Erdoğan.
Some find the Turkish government’s efforts to Islamicize the Turkish army alarming and warn that NATO risks having a member army filled with extremists.