ANKARA, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- Turkish authorities detained 151 suspects in coordinated operations across 46 provinces targeting the Gulen movement over their alleged links to a coup attempt in 2016, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said Wednesday.
The simultaneous raids were carried out against suspects who either had finalized prison sentences or outstanding arrest warrants, Yerlikaya said on social media platform X without elaborating on the timeframe of the operations.
Of the detainees, 82 were formally arrested, and 54 were placed under judicial supervision, while legal procedures for the remaining suspects were continuing, he said.
Türkiye designates the Gulen movement as a terrorist group and blames it for a failed coup in July 2016 in which at least 250 people were killed. The movement was led by cleric Fethullah Gulen, who lived in the United States from 1999 until his death in 2024.
According to the minister, suspects were accused of operating within the movement's judiciary, military, education, student and other covert structures.
Yerlikaya said the operations were conducted by counter-terrorism, anti-smuggling and organized crime, and intelligence units. ■
