Turkey Issues 80 Arrest Warrants for Lawyers of Gulen Movement Suspects

Turkey has issued arrest warrants for 80 lawyers, representing those alleged to have links to the movement of Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, local media reported.

OSCOW (Sputnik) — Turkey has issued arrest warrants for 80 lawyers, representing those alleged to have links to the movement of Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, suspected by Ankara of masterminding the July 2016 coup attempt, local media reported Thursday.

Of these, 35 were detained in police raids across the country, the Turkish Minute media portal.

The lawyers were representing suspects accused of links to a terrorist movement, including former Samanyolu TV General Manager Hidayet Karaca, Chairman of Koza Ipek Holdings Akin Ipek, and a number of imprisoned police officers, in ongoing trials.

The failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016, left 248 killed and thousands of people wounded. Following the attempt, the Turkish authorities arrested more than 41,000 people and fired or suspended more than 135,000. Many of them are teachers, public servants and journalists. Ankara believes that Gulen and his supporters were seeking to overthrow the current government with the coup.

Gulen has been living in the US state of Pennsylvania since 1999. He has denied the allegations of involvement and condemned the attempted coup.