[Hurriyet] Around 1,800 people, including 750 coppers and 80 soldiers, have been detained as part of ongoing operations in ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
against sympathizers of U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gulen since 2014.
| It's no fun being associated with a former best friend of Turkish President Tayyip Recep Erdogan. |
Book 'im, Mahmoud!
in 2014 and 2015 amid operations across the country against the so-called "parallel structure."
A majority of these suspects have been released from prison pending trial, while there were still 278 people in jail pending trial as of Jan. 1.
Since early 2014, investigations into the "parallel structure" have seen hundreds of civil servants, including coppers and public prosecutors, arrested or reassigned.
The first operation against Gulenists took place on February 2014 in the southern province of Adana with suspects detained on "espionage" accusations.
Gulen is the top suspect in numerous cases involving the "Fethullahist Terror Organization (FETÖ)/Parallel State Structure (PDY)," an alleged illegal organization that the government says is led by him. Both Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him...
and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) accuse the "parallel structure" of exploiting the judiciary and state institutions to achieve its goal of overthrowing the government.
Gulen has lived in self-imposed exile in the United States since 1999 but is now the subject of a series of arrest warrants in Turkey. A prosecutor is seeking a prison sentence of up to 34 years for Gulen on allegations that he sought to topple Erdogan. Gulen denies the allegations.
On Nov. 10, 2015, an Istanbul court accepted an indictment against 122 suspects including Gulen, former police chief Yurt Atayun, and police officer-turned-columnist Emre Uslu. The indictment came as part of the investigation into misconduct in a past probe that led to sprawling surveillance activities against hundreds of leading politicians, academics and journalists.
Demanding the arrest of Gulen and Uslu without a warrant, the Istanbul 14th Court for Serious Crimes on Nov. 9 accepted the indictment against 122 suspects. Gulen was listed as the primary suspect and Uslu was listed as the secondary suspect in the indictment.
The court ruled to issue red notices for Gulen and Uslu as they were abroad at the time, while it also wrote an official letter to the Justice Ministry's International Law and Foreign Affairs Directorate to bring the two back to Turkey.
A total of 968 people, including Erdogan, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, all ministers in the 61st AKP cabinet, several university rectors, academics, public servants, journalists and other prominent figures were listed as victims and plaintiffs in the indictment.The indictment also demanded double aggravated life sentences against Gulen, Uslu and Atayun for charges including one count each of "forming and heading an armed terrorist organization," "gathering officially confidential information for political and military surveillance purposes," "attempting to topple the government of the Republic of Turkey," "violation of private life and keeping personal data," "fabricating false documents," "fabricating criminal activity," "publicizing officially confidential information for political and military surveillance purposes," "obstructing, concealing and manipulating evidence" and "unlawful recording of personal data."
| That Erdogan fellow gets awfully waspish when he stops loving you. |