Turkish gov’t issues detention warrants for at least 102 people over alleged links to Gülen movement

The Turkish government issued detention warrants for at least 102 people on Tuesday across Turkey as part of its massive post-coup witch hunt campaign targeting alleged members of the Gülen movement.

Çanakkale Chief Prosecutor’s Office on Tuesday issued detention warrants for 22 military officers over their alleged links to the Gülen movement. The military officer, 21 of them are on-duty soldiers have been accused of allegedly communicating with the other alleged members of the movement.

İzmir Chief Prosecutor’s Office issued detention warrants for 25 people, including doctors, on-duty military officers, teachers and a staff of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK), on Tuesday over their alleged links to the Gülen movement. Police detained 12 of them during raids to addresses in 16 provinces across Turkey.

Kocaeli Chief Prosecutor’s Office issued detention warrants for 24 military officers, including 10 on-duty soldiers, on Tuesday in 9 provinces across Turkey over their alleged links to the Gülen movement. Police launched simultaneous operations in Kocaeli, İstanbul, Ankara, Muğla, Yalova, Çanakkale, Balıkesir, Erzincan and Şırnak provinces to detain wanted military personnel.

Ankara Chief Prosecutor’s Office issued detention warrants for 7 people on Tuesday over their alleged use of ByLock mobile phone messaging application. Police reportedly detained 4 of them in Ankara and İstanbul.

Turkish authorities believe ByLock is a communication tool among alleged followers of the Gülen movement. Tens of thousands of people, including civil servants, police officers, soldiers, businessmen, and even housewives have either been dismissed or arrested for allegedly using ByLock since a controversial coup attempt on July 15, 2016.

The UN Human Rights Council’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UN/WGAD) stated in a recently released assessment that detention, arrest and conviction in Turkey based on the alleged use of ByLock is a violation of Articles 19, 21 and 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

Meanwhile, following the issuance of detention warrants by Konya Chief Prosecutor’s Office for 17 people on Tuesday over their alleged use of ByLock police detained 12 people in Konya.

Also on Tuesday, police detained 7 people in Çarşamba district of Samsun province, Ankara and İstanbul provinces over their alleged links to the Gülen movement as part of a Samsun-based investigation.

The detainees are reportedly former employees of the educational, civil society institutions which were closed down by the government under the state of emergency declared in the aftermath of the controversial coup attempt on July 15, 2016. The detainees were accused of using ByLock and depositing money into their personal accounts in private lender Bank Asya which was also closed by the government over its affiliation with the movement.

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.

The post Turkish gov’t issues detention warrants for at least 102 people over alleged links to Gülen movement appeared first on Stockholm Center for Freedom.

from Stockholm Center for Freedom https://stockholmcf.org/turkish-govt-issues-detention-warrants-for-at-least-102-people-over-alleged-links-to-gulen-movement/