Turkey detains more than 1,500 people for suspected links to terrorism

  

Turkish authorities last week detained 1,682 people for questioning over suspected links to militant organisations and arrested 516 of them, the interior ministry said on Monday. 

 

People suspected of links to the Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara says orchestrated an attempted coup in July, made up the biggest number, with 1,096 detained and 426 of those arrested.
A total of 508 people were detained for links with Kurdish militants and 78 of those arrested, the ministry said. Authorities detained 78 people for links to the Islamic State group and arrested 12, it said.
In the past six months, a total of 1,656 people have been arrested for allegedly supporting terrorist organisations or insulting officials on social media.
Investigations and legal procedures are under way against an additional 10,000 people.
Turkey declared a state of emergency soon after a failed coup in July, detaining thousands of citizens and purging tens of thousands of public servants over alleged ties to outlawed groups.
Western governments, human rights group and legal experts have repeatedly expressed concern over the crackdown, which some say has begun targeting political opponents and critics. Ankara defends its actions saying they are necessary precautions in the face of ongoing nationwide terrorism.
This year Turkey has seen a series of attacks and bombings in major cities that were the work of either the Islamic State group or Kurdish militants.
Turkey frequently restricts access to social media websites to prevent the spread of graphic images and other material that authorities say would harm public order or security.
Such restrictions usually follow a major crackdown or a terrorist attack. On Friday access was restricted to social media websites for several hours after the Islamic State group released a video purportedly showing two Turkish soldiers being burned alive.

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Posted By Abayomi Ismail
source: http://www.france24.com