Istanbul – May 23, 2025 — The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has issued arrest warrants for 63 active-duty military personnel over alleged ties to the Gülen movement, a group long accused by Ankara of orchestrating the failed July 2016 coup attempt.
According to a government statement, operations were carried out across 36 provinces at dawn, resulting in the detention of 56 individuals, including four colonels and officers from the army, navy, air force, and gendarmerie. Those arrested reportedly include eight personnel from the air force, 13 from the gendarmerie, 36 from the land forces, and six from the navy.
The suspects span a wide range of ranks—four colonels, eight lieutenant colonels, 12 majors, 15 captains, and 24 non-commissioned officers—highlighting the continued breadth of the government’s post-coup crackdown nearly nine years after the failed attempt.
The arrests were justified by authorities based on phone records allegedly linking the suspects to the Gülen movement, a broad civil society network founded by Turkish Islamic cleric Fethullah Gülen. Once a close ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Gülen became a convenient scapegoat after relations soured during a 2013 corruption probe that implicated members of Erdoğan’s inner circle.
Critics argue that the government’s relentless pursuit of suspected Gülenists has evolved into a tool of political repression, targeting perceived opponents rather than proven criminals. Since 2016, over 25,000 military personnel have been arrested, and more than 130,000 public servants have been dismissed, many without due process.
While Ankara brands the movement a terrorist organization (under the designation FETÖ), the group describes itself as a peaceful, faith-based network focused on education, dialogue, and interfaith cooperation. International human rights groups have repeatedly raised concerns about the lack of credible evidence in many of the cases and the widespread use of guilt by association.
Fethullah Gülen, who lived in self-imposed exile in the United States from 1999 until his death in October 2024, consistently denied involvement in the coup attempt. Independent investigations and analysts have noted that the Turkish government has provided little transparent or verifiable evidence linking him directly to the events of July 15, 2016, which left nearly 300 people dead and thousands injured.
That night, a faction of the military attempted to overthrow the government, seizing tanks and aircraft and bombing key government buildings. President Erdoğan, vacationing in Marmaris, escaped what he later described as an assassination attempt. In the aftermath, senior military officials, including current Defence Minister Yaşar Güler, were taken hostage.
Since then, Turkey’s domestic landscape has shifted dramatically. Civil liberties have been curtailed, dissenting voices silenced, and the judiciary increasingly subordinated to executive power. The continued purge of military officers, educators, judges, and civil servants has drawn condemnation from rights organizations, which warn that these actions undermine the rule of law and democratic institutions.
In its Friday statement, the prosecutor’s office described the Gülen movement as “the greatest threat to the constitutional order,” while asserting that many more Gülen-affiliated officers remain undetected. Critics counter that such rhetoric is used to justify ongoing authoritarianism and consolidate one-man rule under Erdoğan, whose grip on power has only strengthened since the failed coup.
As Turkey heads toward a crucial period of political transition, the legacy of the post-coup purge continues to cast a long shadow over the country’s military, judiciary, and public life.
