Turkish prosecutors issued detention warrants for 51 military personnel, including 41 active-duty service members, in the southern province of Adana on March 25, 2019, as part of investigations launched after a failed coup in 2016.
Acting on orders from the Adana Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, police anti-smuggling and organized crime units raided the suspects’ homes early in the morning.
Those sought included military officers holding the ranks of lieutenant and captain.
Police took some of the suspects into custody and transported them to a police station after medical examinations at the Adana Forensic Medicine Unit.
The operation was part of a purge of the Turkish Armed Forces launched after the July 15, 2016 coup attempt, which President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government blames on the movement inspired by US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen.
The movement denies involvement in the coup attempt.
Turkish authorities had detained or dismissed tens of thousands of military personnel, judges, police officers, teachers and other public employees by March 2019 over alleged links to the movement.
