ANKARA, July 8 (Xinhua) -- Turkish police detained 25 suspects in nationwide operations targeting the Gulen movement in their alleged infiltration into the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Türkiye's Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office said Tuesday.
Of the suspects detained in the coordinated raids spanning eight provinces, with capital Ankara as the center, 19 had been dismissed from the ministry due to their alleged ties to the movement, four were still employed within the ministry, and the two others were working in different public institutions, the office said in a statement.
The suspects were identified through their use of ByLock, an encrypted messaging app linked to the movement, and through records of sequential calls made via payphones and fixed lines -- methods associated with the movement's covert communication, it said.
The Turkish government classifies the Gulen movement as a terrorist organization and holds it responsible for the July 15, 2016 coup attempt, in which more than 250 people were killed. The movement was led by Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, who lived in the United States from 1999 until his death in 2024.
In the years since the failed coup, Turkish authorities have arrested thousands of suspects accused of links to the movement. ■
