BEIRUT, LEBANON (2:00 P.M.) – The Turkish police forces began began at dawn on Friday, a security operation to arrest 44 current and former soldiers suspected of belonging to the Gulen organization within the armed forces, after arrest warrants were issued against them.
According to what security sources reported to the state-owned Anadolu Agency, arrest warrants were issued by the General Prosecutor’s Office in Istanbul, against 44 former and current military personnel in 14 different states.
Immediately after the issuance of the arrest warrants, the anti-terror teams of the General Security Directorate in Istanbul began a simultaneous process to arrest the wanted persons, and had already managed to arrest a number of them and the rest were being apprehended.
These arrests come within the framework of investigations conducted by the Turkish judicial authorities regarding the Gulen organization within the army.
The Turkish government accuses the Turkish preacher, Fethullah Gulen, who is in the United States, and his supporters of being behind the failed coup in 2016, and has arrested many of them and sent them to prison.
Ankara demands that Washington hand over Gulen, but its attempts have failed, with Washington insisting on refusing to hand him over to the Turkish authorities.
