Turkish authorities arrested around 75,200 people in 2018 for alleged terrorist attacks. This emerges from a report released today by the Ministry of Interior in Ankara. The vast majority – some 52,000 – were arrested for their contacts with the movement of the Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen. The Turkish government blames Gülen for the 2016 coup attempt.
Altogether, since the coup attempt two and a half years ago, according to official figures from November, around 218,000 people were arrested for alleged ties to the putschists. Around 31,000 of them were convicted or are still in custody.
Dozens of arrests today
Only this morning, the Ankara Procuratorate had once again put out a total of 60 people for search. According to state agency Anadolu, 31 of those wanted were imprisoned until noon (local time). They are all active members of the Air Force, including at least six senior officers, according to a report by the news agency DHA.
Defense Minister Hulusi Akar stated at the beginning of November that more than 15,000 people had been removed from the military alone for alleged ties to the office’s putschists, including 150 generals and admirals. But the internationally sharply criticized measures also hit academics, human rights activists and journalists.
