Turkish authorities have detained more than a thousand people suspected of having links to US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen. The overnight crackdown was one of the largest operations in months against the network, which Turkey blames for orchestrating a failed coup in July, Aljazeera reported.
Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said 1,009 people were detained so far. The operation was launched in all of Turkey's 81 provinces and targeted the network's structure in the police force. Soylu described the arrests as an "important step" toward the government's aim of "bringing down" the Gulen movement.
The operations were carried out as part of a probe led by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, state-run Anadolou Agency reported, adding that a nationwide hunt for more suspects continued. Authorities have arrested more than 47,000 people since the failed coup, Turkey's interior minister said, including some 10,700 police officers and 7,400 military personnel, and sacked or suspended 120,000 others from a wide range of professions, including soldiers, police, teachers and public servants, over alleged links with what Turkey's government deems terrorist groups.
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