Turkey Busts Gulen And Associates After Four Year Preparation
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Alaina
- . December 2, 2020
- . Update: December 5, 2020 1:03 am
Turkey has recently ordered the detention of 82 military personnel targeting supporters of the Muslim preacher who Ankara says was behind a failed coup in 2016.The operation was spread over 39 provinces. Currently, 63 people have been detained. Of the suspects, 70 were on active duty.
The operation is a way to target the now US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen who is said to have influenced and attempted a coup to overthrow the current President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The crackdown took four-year-long preparation. Gulen denies involvement in the putsch attempt, in which some 250 people were killed.
Ordered by the chief prosecutor in the western coastal province of Izmir, the detention has also lead to sacking of almost 848 military personnel, including high ranking officers, over links to the network. Since the coup attempt, about 80,000 people have been held pending trial and some 150,000 civil servants, military personnel and others have been sacked or suspended.
More than 20,000 people had been expelled from the Turkish military alone. Last week, a Turkish court sentenced leaders of the attempted coup to life in jail, convicting hundreds of army officers, pilots and civilians over the failed bid to topple President Tayyip Erdogan.
