Raids named “Kıskaç-32” were carried out against members of the Gülen movement across 27 provinces, including Istanbul, Izmir, Konya, and Bursa. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced on his personal X account, via an edited video, that the operations lasted 10 days and resulted in the detention of 93 individuals.
“Cited in Testimonies and Identifications”
Yerlikaya claimed that those detained had used payphones and the ByLock messaging app, a software linked to the Gülen network. Among the detainees were individuals with finalized prison sentences. Notable aspects of the raids included ringing doorbells to enter homes and conducting searches from kitchens to bookshelves. The confiscation of items such as kitchen savings and wedding jewelry attracted attention. A key justification for the raids included being “cited in testimonies and identifications.” Yerlikaya also stated that significant amounts of foreign currency, Turkish lira, documents, and digital materials were seized.
“No Relaxation of Measures”
Yerlikaya emphasized in his statement that the crackdown on the Gülen movement would continue even after Fethullah Gülen’s passing, stating, “There will be no room for complacency.”
Provinces Targeted in the Raids
The operations were conducted in coordination with the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Offices, the General Directorate of Security’s Counter-Terrorism (TEM), Intelligence, and Anti-Smuggling and Organized Crime (KOM) Departments, along with local Counter-Terrorism and KOM branches. The provinces targeted were:
Adana, Aksaray, Aydın, Batman, Bursa, Çanakkale, Diyarbakır, Gaziantep, Hatay, Istanbul, Izmir, Kayseri, Karaman, Kütahya, Kırıkkale, Kırşehir, Kilis, Konya, Malatya, Manisa, Mersin, Nevşehir, Niğde, Rize, Samsun, Trabzon, and Zonguldak.
Ankara designated the Gülen movement in 2016 as a terrorist organization and accused it of orchestrating a failed coup attempt in July of that year—allegations the movement denies. This classification and the coup-related accusations are not widely recognized internationally. The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), UN bodies, and human rights organizations often express concern about these claims being used to justify extensive crackdowns on dissent.
The recent accusations against detained individuals include participating in the movement’s post-coup reorganization efforts, contacting key figures through payphones, being identified in testimonies or by other suspects accused of membership in the movement, and using the encrypted messaging app ByLock. Although ByLock was once publicly available online, Turkish authorities allege it was a covert communication tool for the movement’s supporters, despite insufficient evidence of its connection to terrorism.
Turkish authorities continue to prosecute individuals for ByLock usage, even after a landmark ECtHR ruling in late 2023 deemed the app’s use as evidence of terrorism overly broad and arbitrary.
The latest raids, coordinated by chief public prosecutors’ offices and police, spanned 27 provinces, including Istanbul, Ankara, İzmir, and Gaziantep. These operations follow the October 2024 death of movement leader Fethullah Gülen, who passed away in a US hospital at the age of 83. The Turkish government has since vowed to intensify efforts to dismantle the organization.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s targeting of the Gülen movement dates back to 2013, when corruption investigations implicated then-Prime Minister Erdoğan, his family, and close associates. Erdoğan dismissed these investigations as a Gülenist conspiracy and subsequently labeled the movement a terrorist organization. Following the failed 2016 coup, which the government alleges was masterminded by Gülen, Erdoğan escalated the crackdown on the movement.
The movement continues to reject allegations of involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activities.
After the failed coup, the Turkish government declared a state of emergency and initiated a sweeping purge of state institutions under the guise of anti-coup efforts. Over 130,000 public servants and 24,706 members of the armed forces were summarily dismissed via emergency decree-laws that bypassed judicial or parliamentary oversight.
In total, more than 705,172 people have been investigated on terrorism or coup-related charges due to alleged ties to the movement. At least 13,251 individuals remain in pre-trial detention or are serving prison sentences for terrorism charges linked to the movement.
From June 2023 to June 2024 alone, Turkish authorities conducted 5,543 police operations targeting the movement, resulting in the arrest of 1,595 individuals.
Beyond the arrests and imprisonments, thousands of Gülen movement followers have fled Turkey to escape the government’s crackdown.
