Turkey issues arrest warrant for 72 university staff
Supporters of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s
Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu walk with a giant Turkish flag on the
19th day of a protest, dubbed “justice march”, against the detention of the
party’s lawmaker Enis Berberoglu, near Izmit, Turkey.
Turkey on Monday issued arrest warrants for 72 university
staff, including a former adviser to the main opposition leader who staged a
mass rally on Sunday.
Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the Republican People’s Party, CHP, told a huge crowd that Turkey was living under dictatorship and pledged
to keep challenging the government after completing a 25-day protest march from
Ankara to Istanbul.
State-run Anadolu news agency reported that the warrants
were issued under an investigation into the movement of the United States based
Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is accused of orchestrating the attempted
coup on July 15.
Police have so far detained 42 of the staff from Istanbul’s
prestigious Bogazici University and Medeniyet University, which is based on the
Asian side of the country’s largest city, Anadolu said.
According to a CHP official, eight of the 72 were from
Bogazici, including well-known academic Koray Caliskan, who worked in the past
as a voluntary adviser to Kilicdaroglu.
The other 64 people being detained were from Medeniyet
University, 19 of who were medical faculty professors.
All were suspected users of ByLock, an encrypted messaging
app the government says was used by Gulen’s followers.
No fewer than 50,000 people have been arrested and 150,000
state workers including teachers, judges and soldiers, have been suspended in
the crackdown under emergency rule which was imposed soon after the attempted
military takeover.
Kilicdaroglu launched his 450 km march after fellow lawmaker
Enis Berberoglu became the first CHP lawmaker jailed in the purge, sentenced to
25 years in jail on spying charges.
Rights groups and government critics said that Turkey has
been drifting toward authoritarianism for years, a process they say accelerated
since the coup bid and a referendum in April granting President Tayyip Erdogan
sweeping new powers.
The government says the crackdown and constitutional changes
are necessary to address security threats.
No fewer than 240 people were killed in the coup attempt.
Reuters
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