Court arrests former chief adviser of CHP head in Gülen probe

ANKARA

An Istanbul court ordered the arrest of a former chief adviser for Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu on Dec. 22 as part of the ongoing investigation into the Gülen movement, which is accused of orchestrating the failed coup of July 15, state-run Anadolu Agency has reported.

The court ordered the arrest of Associate Professor Fatih Gürsul on charges of “being a member of armed terror organization.”

On Dec. 6, anti-smuggling police detained Gürsul in Ankara at his residence upon instructions from the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.

Gürsul had reportedly used ByLock, an encrypted messaging application said to have been used by followers of the U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen, and he was on the red list. 

He had been suspended from Istanbul University, where he previously worked as a lecturer, as part of a state of emergency decree law issued after the attempted takeover.

He was a former adviser to Kılıçdaroğlu in the science, technology and communication fields.

The party said in a statement that Gürsul had not actively served as an adviser to the CHP leader after he was suspended from his duty at the university.