Turkey has suspended 9,103 police officers as part its investigation into the failed military coup in July 2016, CNN Turk reported on Wednesday. The suspended officials are suspected to have links to United States-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is believed to have orchestrated the operation. Gulen, however, had denied the allegations.
The administration said the crackdown was conducted to ensure national security. Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said Gulen’s network, “secret imams”, were under the scanner for infiltrating the police force, BBC reported.
Since the attempted coup, 40,000 people have been arrested and 1.2 lakh others have been dismissed or suspended from their posts as soldiers, police officers, teachers and public servants over suspected links with militant groups. On Wednesday, Turkish Police detained more than a thousand people across the country.
On July 20, 2016, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had declared a state of emergency five days after a section of the Turkish military had attempted a coup in Istanbul and Ankara. The coup had left 161 people dead and 1,440 wounded.
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