At least 48 people, including 20 military personnel, have been detained
on Friday in Turkey over alleged links to a group accused of orchestrating a coup attempt in 2016.
The police launched simultaneous operations in 12 provinces across the country to catch a total of 52 soldiers,
upon the order of the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in Izmir, the state-run Anadolu agency said.
The agency added that those targeted in the operations are serving commissioned officers of the Turkish
Air Forces, Anadolu said, noting that the police have so far captured 20 of them.
At a separate investigation, Istanbul prosecutors issued detention warrants for at least 68 people and police
have rounded up 28 of them in simultaneous operations launched in 17 provinces.
According to the agency all of the suspects allegedly contacted with the network headed by U.S.-based Turkish
cleric Fethullah Gulen via an encrypted mobile phone application,.
The Turkish government, however, accused the U.S.-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen and his network
of being behind the coup bid in July 2016, in which 250 people were killed. (Xinhua/NAN)