Turkish police detained 42 of 53 people sought in an Elazığ-based operation targeting former education workers over alleged links to the Gülen movement, a transnational civic initiative inspired by Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.
The operation was coordinated by the Elazığ Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office and carried out by the Elazığ Police Department’s Smuggling and Organized Crime Branch.
The people targeted had previously worked at schools, prep schools or student dormitories that were shut down under emergency decrees issued after Turkey’s July 15, 2016 coup attempt.
Police carried out simultaneous raids in 23 provinces, with the operation centered in the eastern province of Elazığ.
The raids included Siirt, Çanakkale, Zonguldak, Adıyaman, Aydın, Adana, Diyarbakır, Kahramanmaraş, İstanbul, Antalya, Malatya, Mersin, Ordu and Aksaray, according to Turkish media reports.
The detentions were part of Turkey’s post-coup crackdown on people accused of links to the Gülen movement.
Ankara designates the Gülen movement as a terrorist organization and blames it for Turkey’s 2016 coup attempt. The movement denies involvement in the coup or any terrorist activity.
After the failed coup, Turkey used emergency decrees to close schools, dormitories, associations, foundations, media outlets and businesses accused by the government of Gülen movement links. Rights groups have criticized the measures as collective punishment and a denial of due process.
The operation in Elazığ reflected the continued targeting of teachers, school employees and education workers after the shutdown of institutions linked by Ankara to the movement.
Rights groups have said such investigations often treated employment at a closed institution as evidence of criminal affiliation, even when the work took place before the institution was shut down by government decree.
