Turkish authorities have detained 103 individuals over the past week in police operations targeting alleged members of the faith-based Gülen movement, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced on Saturday.
Yerlikaya stated on X that operations were conducted across 39 provinces, leading to the detention of 103 suspects accused of engaging in Gülen-linked activities in universities, the military, and an allegedly new organization despite an ongoing crackdown on the movement that has intensified since the failed coup attempt of July 2016.
Despite a series of rulings by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) against Turkey for violating the principle of “no crime and no punishment without law,” Yerlikaya has continued to praise the operations targeting religious groups.
He also revealed that multiple home raids were conducted against individuals accused of communicating via payphone lines, using ByLock—an encrypted messaging app previously linked to the Gülen movement—and providing assistance to the families of individuals imprisoned under emergency decrees (KHKs).
The minister also noted that some of those detained had previously been convicted on Gülen-related charges, with their sentences upheld by appellate courts.
For over a decade, Turkish authorities have pursued Fethullah Gülen and his movement, which was once praised by the government for its contributions to education and interfaith dialogue. However, since 2013, the movement has faced serious accusations, including masterminding corruption investigations and playing a central role in the 2016 coup attempt.
Gülen, who had been living in the United States since 1999, passed away in Pennsylvania on October 20, 2023, at the age of 83. The Turkish government officially designated the Gülen movement as a terrorist organization in May 2016.
Both Gülen and his followers have consistently denied any involvement in the coup or terrorist activities, yet the government’s crackdown on the movement continues.
The latest wave of arrests includes individuals accused of hiding in secret locations to evade capture, using payphones to contact senior movement figures, gaining unfair advantages in state exams, and using the mobile application ByLock, which Turkish authorities claim was a covert communication tool for Gülen supporters.
The so-called “payphone investigations” rely on call records rather than actual call content. Prosecutors allege that one suspected Gülen member would call multiple contacts in succession using a payphone, leading authorities to assume that individuals called immediately before or after were also affiliated with the movement. The lack of call content means that arrests are based solely on the sequence of calls, a method that has been widely criticized by legal experts and human rights organizations.
ByLock, once publicly available online, has been labeled as a secret communication platform for Gülenists following the July 15, 2016 coup attempt, despite the absence of concrete evidence linking its use to the putsch.
Although Gülen and his followers deny any involvement in the coup or terrorism, the government’s efforts to suppress the movement persist both within Turkey and abroad, with continued detentions, arrests, and extraditions of suspected members from foreign countries.
Since 2016, Turkish authorities have investigated 705,172 individuals on terrorism or coup-related charges linked to the movement. Currently, 13,251 people remain behind bars, either in pretrial detention or serving sentences for alleged terrorism offenses related to Gülen.
