Ankara, Feb 22 – Turkish police have detained 67 suspects over their alleged links to a network accused of orchestrating a coup attempt in 2016, the country’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said.
The police have carried out simultaneous raids as part of an operation known as “Clamp-7” across 14 Turkish provinces, including Ankara, the Minister said on social media platform X on Wednesday, without specifying the time of the raids.
Video footage posted on the Minister’s X account showed police capturing suspects in apartments and buildings and putting them into vehicles, Xinhua news agency reported.
The suspects allegedly belong to the military structure of the Gulen movement, which was accused by the Turkish government of attempting a coup that killed at least 250 people on July 15, 2016.
The number of suspects detained in operations against the movement since June 1, 2023, has risen to 6,045, the Minister added.
The Gulen movement is allegedly led by and named after Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen, who was regarded by his followers as a spiritual leader.
The Turkish government has launched a massive crackdown on suspects with links to the movement after the coup attempt in 2016.
int/khz
