Anti-terror police units in Ankara and elsewhere were seeking to detain 73 people, including pilots, over alleged links to the 2016 failed coup, state news agency Anadolu said on Wednesday.
The chief public prosecutor’s office in Ankara issued detention warrants for the 63 suspects, including 46 active-duty helicopter pilots, Anadolu said. An airbase in Ankara is alleged to have been a nerve centre of the putschists on July 15, 2016.
Separately, 10 soldiers in the eastern province of Van were sought for detention over alleged coup ties, Anadolu said. Police detained nine suspects, it added.
The warrants were issued on suspicion of links to US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen whom the government blames for the failed 2016 coup attempt by a faction in the military. Gulen denies the accusations.
Among the suspects are three colonels, Anadolu reported.
It was not immediately clear how many of the suspects were initially detained.
More than 30 months after the failed putsch, Turkish authorities continue to target alleged Gulenists almost on a daily basis.
A total of 15,213 army personnel have been fired since, the Defence Ministry said on January 19, according to Anadolu.
On Tuesday, authorities in eight provinces issued detention warrants for more than 150, including police officers and soldiers, over alleged coup ties, according to Anadolu.
Ankara also brands Gulen’s global network a terrorist organization and has separately been targeting suspected Gulen supporters abroad.
On Wednesday, Anadolu said Azerbaijan “extradited” the manager of a printing house to Turkey. Ibrahim E was brought on board a plane to Istanbul “accompanied by two Azeri police officers,” the report said. The suspect was brought to Ankara for procedures, it added.
A second alleged Gulenist responsible for the network in Nigeria was detained at the airport, Anadolu added. Zubeyir G, who had a detention warrant against him for “being a member of and armed terrorist group,” was arrested in Ankara.
It was not immediately clear when the two suspects were initially detained.
So far, Turkish nationals have been captured and brought back to Turkey also from Ukraine, Kosovo, Gabon, Pakistan and Afghanistan, according to Anadolu.
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