Detention warrants issued for 34 former employees at state-run TV channel over Gülen links

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

Detention warrants for 34 former employees of the state-run Turkish Radio and Television Channel (TRT) were issued on July 12 over alleged links to Fethullah Gülen, the U.S.-based Islamic preacher who is widely believed to have led the July 15, 2016, deadly coup attempt.

The detention warrants were issued as part of a probe into the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ) by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.      

The suspects have allegedly used the ByLock mobile application, which is said to have been used by FETÖ members during the coup attempt, according to a statement by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.

The smartphone application was reportedly cracked by Turkish security agencies, allowing them to identify tens of thousands of suspects linked to FETÖ. 

Meanwhile, the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office also issued detention warrants for 17 suspects over links to FETÖ.   

Seven of them were detained by police in a raid on different addresses in Istanbul over affiliation to Gülen as part of an investigation launched into the “media leg” of FETÖ.     

Two of those who had detention warrants were already in jail, while police are searching for eight others.

In a separate Konya-based operation, police detained 14 non-commissioned army officers early on July 12 in six different provinces across Turkey also for links to the coup attempt, Doğan News Agency has reported.