Turkey’s Interior Ministry announced the arrest of 39 people on Saturday in yet another sweeping crackdown on followers of the faith-based Gülen movement, underscoring the government’s continued use of mass detentions to silence dissent nearly a decade after the staged coup attempt of July 2016.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya claimed that security forces had detained 49 individuals in operations spanning 29 provinces over the past ten days, with courts ordering the pretrial detention of 39 of them. The detainees stand accused of actions that critics argue are ordinary civic or digital activities repackaged as crimes: maintaining contact with acquaintances through public payphones, providing donations to charitable organizations affiliated with the movement, and allegedly conducting “propaganda” by sharing pro-Gülen views on social media platforms.
Human rights advocates and legal experts have long condemned these so-called “payphone investigations,” which rest solely on circumstantial evidence drawn from call records. Under this practice, suspects are deemed guilty by association if their phone calls happen to coincide with those of other alleged members. Such methods, critics say, would not withstand scrutiny in a democratic legal system, as they criminalize patterns of communication rather than proven criminal conduct.
The Gülen movement, also known as Hizmet (Service), was once praised by Turkish leaders for its contributions to education, humanitarian relief, and interfaith dialogue. Since May 2016, however, the government has labeled it a terrorist organization, accusing its U.S.-based leader, the late cleric Fethullah Gülen, of masterminding the July 15 coup attempt. Gülen, who died in October 2024, consistently denied these charges, and no independent investigation has substantiated Ankara’s claims. The designation remains unrecognized by the United States, the European Union, and other international bodies.
Supporters of the movement argue that Turkey’s crackdown represents one of the most far-reaching campaigns of political persecution in modern times. According to official statistics, more than 126,000 people have been convicted on alleged Gülen links since 2016, while over 11,000 remain behind bars. Another 24,000 face ongoing trials, and 58,000 more remain under active investigation. Thousands of others have fled abroad, fearing arrest for nothing more than expressing an opinion online, donating to a charity, or making a phone call.
