Turkish courts arrest 88,000 people over alleged links to Gülen movement since 2016 coup bid

According to official data compiled by the Stockholm Center for Freedom (SCF), the Turkish government has investigated over 445,000 people, arrested about 88,000 people as part of its massive post-coup witch hunt targeting alleged members of the Gülen movement since the controversial coup attempt on July 15, 2016.

While at least 36,495 people are still held in prison over their alleged links to the Gülen movement, human rights violations and maltreatment have been a routine of the Turkish government vis-a-vis the alleged members of the Gülen movement.

As the Turkish government continues to dismiss people who were allegedly affiliated with the movement, the judiciary, which is under the full control of the Turkish government led by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, do not pay attention to the adequacy of the legal evidence required to accuse one of membership to a terror organization.

While the judges and prosecutors refuse to comply with the criteria of an independent judiciary, the number of suspicious deaths under police custody or in prisons is increasing day by day because of widespread and systematic torture and ill-treatment of detainees under custody.

A string of prison deaths in Turkey to attract suspicion since the coup attempt. The SCF reported in one of its studies titled “Suspicious Deaths and Suicides In Turkey” that there has been an increase in the number of suspicious deaths in Turkey, most in jails and detention centers, where torture and ill-treatment are being practiced. In the majority of cases, authorities concluded they were suicides without any effective, independent investigation.

Suspicious deaths have also taken place beyond prison walls amid psychological pressure and threats of imminent imprisonment and torture, sometimes following the release of suspects or just before their detention. SCF has compiled 122 cases of suspicious deaths and suicides in Turkey in a list in a searchable database format.

According to the most recent data released by the Turkish Interior Ministry, the Turkish government detained a total of 478 people during the week of Sept.17 and Sept.24 as part over their alleged links to the Gülen movement. Meanwhile, it was announced that a total of 19,197 people were detained between Jan.1-Sept.23 in 2018 over alleged links to the movement.

Turkish Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gül stated in July 2018 that the Turkish government investigated and prosecuted 441,195 people as part of a massive post-coup witch hunt campaign it conducted against alleged members of the movement since the July 15, 2016 coup bid.

According to data released by Gül’s ministry, 89,718 of those who have been investigated and prosecuted are women, while 351,477 of them are men. As 5,315 out 203,518 people who were investigated across Turkey have been held in prisons, 16,195 out of 83,722 people who have been tried at the courts across Turkey have been held prisons.

The statistics of the Turkish Justice Ministry shows that the courts have convicted 34,926 people over their alleged membership to the Gülen movement while acquitting 13,992 people from the same charge. 12,617 out of 34,926 people, who were convicted by the courts, have not been released.

While 2,368 out of 5,370 people who were kept in prisons as part of the ongoing trial of 108 cases related to coup bid, 2,386 people have been released with parole, 528 of them have never been arrested and 88 of them have never been detained.

Turkish high criminal courts have given 636 aggravated life sentences, including 31 defendants who were given 4 aggravated life sentences and 4 defendants who were given 3 life sentences), 888 life sentences. The same courts have also sentenced 653 defendants between 1 year and 2 months to 20 years of imprisonment. The courts have acquitted 1,552 defendants and abstained to give sentences to 595 people. In total, the courts have released their verdicts about 4,324 people.

The detentions of alleged members of the Gülen movement per week in 2018.

Sep.17-Sep.24: 478 people.

Sep.10-Sep.17: 402 people.

Sep.3-Sep.10: 239 people.

Aug.27-Sep.3: 153 people.

Aug.20-Aug.27: 23 people.

Aug.13-Aug.20: 221 people.

Aug.6-Aug.13: 312 people.

July 30-Aug.6: 334 people.

July 23-July 30: 209 people.

July 23-July 16: 334 people.

July 9-July 16: 467 people.

July 2-July 9: 885 people.

Jun.25-July 2: 777 people.

Jun.18-Jun.25: 198 people.

Jun.11-Jun.18: 119 people.

Jun.4-Jun.11: 492 people.

May 28-Jun.4: 446 people.

May 21-May 28: 545 people.

May 14- May 21: 537 people.

May 7- May 14: 967 people.

Apr.30-May 7: 587 people.

Apr.23-Apr.30: 489 people.

Apr.16-Apr.23: 532 people.

Apr.9-Apr.16: 702 people.

Apr.2-Apr.9: 561 people.

Mar.26-Apr.2: 853 people.

Mar.19-Mar.26: 568 people.

Mar.12-Mar.19: 537 people.

Mar.5-Mar.12: 740 people.

Feb.26-Mar.5: 765 people.

Feb.19-Feb.26: 646 people.

Feb.12-Feb.19: 567 people.

Feb.5-Feb.12: 568 people.

Jan.29-Feb.5: 518 people.

Jan.22-Jan.29: 623 people.

Jan.15-Jan.22: 615 people.

Jan.8-Jan.15: 721 people.

Jan.1-Jan.8: 467 people.

Hundreds of thousands of people in Turkey have been the subject of legal proceedings in the last two years on charges of membership in the Gülen movement since a coup attempt on July 15, 2016, a Turkish Justice Ministry official told a symposium on July 19, 2018.

“Legal proceedings have been carried out against 445,000 members of this organization,” Turkey’s pro-government Islamist news agency İLKHA quoted Turkish Justice Ministry Deputy Undersecretary Ömer Faruk Aydıner as saying.

Turkey survived a controversial military coup attempt on July 15, 2016, that killed 249 people. 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.

Turkey has suspended or dismissed about 170,000 judges, teachers, police and civil servants since July 15, 2016. On December 13, 2017, the Justice Ministry announced that 169,013 people have been the subject of legal proceedings on coup charges since the failed coup.

Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu announced on April 18, 2018, that the Turkish government had jailed 77,081 people between July 15, 2016, and April 11, 2018, over alleged links to the Gülen movement.

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from Stockholm Center for Freedom https://stockholmcf.org/turkish-courts-arrest-88000-people-over-alleged-links-to-gulen-movement-since-2016-coup-bid/