Ankara orders detention of 133 military personnel over suspected Gulen links – report

Turkish authorities have ordered the detention of 133 military personnel over suspected links to a network Ankara accuses of organizing an attempted coup in 2016, Anadolu news agency said on Tuesday.

The suspects are being sought in an operation centered in the western coastal province of Izmir, the report said, adding that 82 of them were serving members in the military.

Ankara blames US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in the US since 1999, of masterminding the failed putsch on July 15, 2016. He has denied any involvement.

In the three-year purge since the coup attempt, more than 77,000 people have been jailed pending trial and about 150,000 civil servants, military personnel and others have been sacked or suspended from their jobs, Reuters said.