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A court in Konya, central Anatolia, ordered the arrest of 70 active members of the Turkish army for their alleged involvement in the 2016 coup attempt.
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The warrants were issued after other arrested officers denounced their links with Fethullah Gulen, the cleric and head of the Hizmet, an Islamic network and social movement that ran education and health programs in Turkey that the government blames for orchestrating the coup attempt.
Security forces are now searching for 47 lieutenants in active service and 23 non-commissioned officers in 38 Turkish provinces.
The Hizmet, also known as the Gulen Movement, used to have members and sympathizers in all levels of the Turkish government, based on its welfare network of private schools and other social services.
They were a strong ally of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), before splitting away in a power struggle in 2013.
Gulen lives "in retreat" in a house in Pennsylvania since 1999 and denies any involvement with the coup attempt.
Turkey has engaged in an indiscriminate persecution of political opponents since the coup attempt, especially targeting members of the Hizmet and anyone suspicious of collaborating with them. Thousands of police and military officers, professors, judges and public servants have been arrested or suspended from their jobs under suspicion of being Gulen supporters.
The U.N. human rights office said earlier this month Turkey has detained 160,000 people and dismissed nearly the same number of civil servants since the failed coup in July 2016, which Ankara blames on Gulen.
Among those detained, more than 50,000 have been formally charged and kept in jail during trial.
But Turkish political persecution of dissidents and critics didn't begin with the coup attempt. The AKP government has been systematically accusing and arresting critical voices within the country for supporting opposition movements, regardless of their nature.
Academics, a profession that usually goes untouched in most countries, face persecution for their political ideas and activities. A group of intellectuals, professors and academic professionals signed a petition for peace in 2016 regarding the Turkish offensive against Kurdish towns in southeastern Anatolia. Subscribers were scheduled for trials that are still ongoing.
Journalists have also been among the most affected victims of Turkey's political persecution. Since the coup attempt, 231 journalists have been jailed under claims they report supported terrorist activities. Some have already been released, but about 140 other journalists still face arrest warrants.
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