A decade after Turkey’s failed 2016 coup, prosecutors ordered the arrest of nearly 1,000 suspects linked to an organisation that Ankara holds responsible, the justice minister said Monday.
On July 15, 2016 a rogue military faction made a short-lived bid to overthrow the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, sparking fighting that left some 250 people dead and another 2,000 wounded.
Ankara blamed the US-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen, a former Erdogan ally-turned-foe who has since died, vowing to eradicate his organisation — which it dubbed the Fetullah Terrorist Organisation, or FETO — from Turkish society.
Ankara imposed a two-year state of emergency during which it carried out a vast purge of the army, the police, the media, judiciary, the education system and the diplomatic sphere that saw hundreds of thousands detained and tens of thousands sacked, leaving a permanent mark on Turkish society.
Describing Monday’s nationwide sweep as part of “the great purification campaign”, Justice Minister Akin Gurlek and Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci said police were seeking “968 suspects” in order to root out FETO-related elements.
“Our nation’s will and the survival of our state are under threat from the treacherous FETO/PDY network, and our struggle against it continues with the same determination as on the first day,” they wrote on X, using an acronym referring to the “parallel state structure” Ankara says Gulen’s group set up.
Analysts say the coup became a turning point in modern Turkey’s history, allowing Erdogan to cement his grip on power.
Last week, Ciftci sent a letter to the governors of Turkey’s 81 provinces, describing the events of July 15, 2016 as “a foundational and indisputable turning point”.
