- Source: CNN " data-fave-thumbnails="{"big": { "uri": "https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/160716093331-fethullah-gulen-turkish-coup-attempt-erdogan-00000000.jpg?q=x_331,y_220,h_1295,w_2302,c_crop/h_540,w_960" }, "small": { "uri": "https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/160716093331-fethullah-gulen-turkish-coup-attempt-erdogan-00000000.jpg?q=x_331,y_220,h_1295,w_2302,c_crop/h_540,w_960" } }" data-vr-video="false" data-show-html=" Fareed Zakaria, GPS " data-byline-html="
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Published 10:22 AM EDT, Tue October 13, 2020
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(FILES) This handout file picture released on September 24, 2013 by Zaman Daily shows exiled Turkish Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen at his residence in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania.  
The US-based cleric was accused by Ankara of orchestrating Friday's military coup attempt but he firmly denied involvement, also condemning the action "in the strongest terms". / AFP PHOTO / ZAMAN DAILY / SELAHATTIN SEVI / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO/ZAMAN DAILY/SELAHATTIN SEVI" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE

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Turkey's Gulen responds to 2016 coup allegation
11:09 - Source: CNN

Turkish police detained dozens of people on Tuesday in a search for 167 suspects, many of them active duty soldiers, in a move against supporters of a Muslim preacher the government accuses of organizing a failed coup in 2016, state media reported.

The detentions were the latest in a four-year-old crackdown targeting the network of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen. He denies involvement in the July 2016 putsch, in which some 250 people were killed.

Authorities launched an operation from the coastal province of Izmir in search of 110 suspects, including 16 pilots, colonels, and lieutenant colonels, across 26 provinces, broadcaster TRT Haber said. It said 89 suspects had been detained.

In a separate operation targeting Gulen’s followers, police sought 57 other suspects across 15 provinces, the state-owned Anadolu news agency said, adding that 32 people had been detained.

Police spokesmen were not immediately available for comment.

Since the abortive putsch, some 80,000 people have been held pending trial and about 150,000 civil servants, military personnel and others sacked or suspended. More than 20,000 people had been expelled from the Turkish military.

Rights groups and Turkey’s Western allies have criticized the scale of the crackdown, saying the government was using it as a pretext to quash dissent.

The government has denied the accusation, saying the measures are necessary for national security.