Turkey Detains 304 Troops in Operation Against Alleged ‘Gulenists’

People shout slogans as they hold Turkish flags during a rally marking the third anniversary of the failed coup attempt in Istanbul, Turkey, 15 July 2019. Photo: EPA-EFE/ERDEM SAHIN

Prosecutors in the city of Izmir ordered the arrests because of the suspects' alleged of links to US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is accused by Ankara of mounting a failed coup in 2016.

"As part of an ongoing investigation, an operation was started to detain military officers whose connections were detected with FETO," the Izmir Persecutors Office said in a statement.

FETO, or the Fethullahist Terrorist Organisation, is the name given by the authorities to the movement founded by Gulen.

The operation is the largest against military personnel since the failed coup attempt.

The detainees include five colonels, one lieutenant-colonel, one major, ten captains, 58 lieutenants and 228 non-commissioned military officers in different branches of the Turkish Armed Forces.

One civil officer was also detained - allegedly the leader of Gulen's network in the Turkish Air Forces, Turkish newspaper Daily Sabah reported.

The Izmir Porsecutor's Office requested that the army has suspended nearly 900 soldiers because of their alleged links with Gulen's network.

The Turkish government under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accuses Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in the US since 1999, and his network of operating a parallel structure within the Turkish state and orchestrating a coup attempt in July 2016.

Gulen has denied the accusations.

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said on November 26 that in total, 292,000 people have been detained because of their alleged links with Gulen.

According to the Turkish...