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News > World

Turkey Detains 1,000 'Secret Imams' in 'Ongoing' Police Purge

  • Suspected supporters of the U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen are escorted by plainclothes police officers, Kayseri, Turkey, April 25, 2017.

    Suspected supporters of the U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen are escorted by plainclothes police officers, Kayseri, Turkey, April 25, 2017. | Photo: Reuters

Published 26 April 2017
Opinion

Many relatives of those detained or sacked since July say they have nothing to do with the armed attempt to overthrow the government.

Turkish authorities arrested more than 1,000 people on Wednesday they said had secretly infiltrated police forces across the country on behalf of a U.S.-based cleric blamed by the government for a failed coup attempt last July.

The nationwide sweep was one of the largest operations in months against suspected supporters of the cleric, Fethullah Gulen, a former ally of President Tayyip Erdogan  who is now accused by the government of trying to topple him by force.

Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said the overnight crackdown targeted a Gulen network "that infiltrated our police force, called 'secret imams.'

"One thousand and nine secret imams have been detained so far in 72 provinces, and the operation is ongoing," he told reporters in Ankara.

In the aftermath of the failed July coup, authorities arrested 40,000 people and sacked or suspended 120,000 from a wide range of professions.

The latest detentions came 10 days after voters narrowly backed plans to expand Erdogan's already wide powers in a referendum which opposition parties and European election observers said was marred by irregularities.

The referendum bitterly divided Turkey. Erdogan's critics fear further drift into authoritarianism, with a leader they see as bent on eroding modern Turkey's democracy and secular foundations.

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