Turkish police have taken at least 65 people into custody in a new series of investigations arising from the government’s crackdown following the failed 2016 coup attempt.
The suspects include active-duty soldiers, businesspeople and former employees of Bank Asya. Others are accused of using ByLock, an encrypted messaging application that Turkish prosecutors treat as evidence of membership in the Gülen movement.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government accuses the Gülen movement of organizing the 2016 coup attempt, an allegation the movement denies and that has not been established through a credible, independent and transparent investigation.
More than a year after the attempted coup, approximately 50,000 people are imprisoned pending trial and about 150,000 have been dismissed or suspended from public- and private-sector employment over alleged Gülen links. The investigations have extended far beyond people accused of participating in the coup itself.
ByLock as evidence
Twenty of those detained are accused of using ByLock. Authorities say the application was developed for secret communication among Gülen movement members and have used alleged installation or use of the program as a principal basis for terrorism prosecutions.
The reliability of the government’s ByLock evidence is disputed. A September 2017 forensic report by Dutch cybersecurity company Fox-IT questioned the methodology and verifiability of a National Intelligence Organization report used to identify alleged users.
In an operation led by prosecutors in Elazığ, police detained 20 people during raids in Elazığ, Diyarbakır, Sivas and Istanbul. No additional evidence against the suspects has been disclosed.
Istanbul prosecutors separately issued detention warrants for 36 alleged ByLock users. Police launched early-morning raids, but the authorities have not released the suspects’ identities or places of employment.
Soldiers detained in Polatlı
Police detained one first lieutenant and six non-commissioned officers at two military facilities in Ankara’s Polatlı district: the 58th Artillery Brigade and a regiment attached to the Artillery and Missile School Command.
Five were transferred to Tekirdağ for questioning, while police procedures for the remaining two are continuing in Polatlı. Authorities have not disclosed the specific conduct underlying the allegations.
Businesspeople accused of financing movement
Police in Mersin detained 29 businesspeople after prosecutors issued warrants for 47 suspects accused of financing the Gülen movement. Searches are continuing for the remaining 18.
The reports announcing the operation do not identify the transactions or other activities prosecutors consider evidence of financing.
Former Bank Asya employees detained
Nine former Bank Asya employees were detained in raids across Muğla, Antalya, Denizli, Aydın and Eskişehir.
Bank Asya was a legally operating participation bank associated with the Gülen movement. The state seized control of it in 2015 and revoked its banking license shortly after the coup attempt. Turkish authorities have since treated employment at the bank, deposits and other financial dealings with it as potential evidence of Gülen affiliation.
The authorities have not disclosed any alleged criminal acts by the nine former employees beyond their association with the bank.
