ANKARA (Dispatches) – Turkish prosecutors have ordered the arrest of as many as 243 staff with the country’s military over their alleged use of a messaging application, which Ankara associates with U.S.-based opposition cleric Fetullah Gulen.
The arrest warrants were issued on Wednesday as part of Ankara’s ongoing crackdown on those suspected of having a hand in the failed July 2016 military coup.
The country’s Anadolu news agency reported that the arrests will be made in operations in 54 provinces across the country.
Those sought are accused of using "Bylock,” an encrypted smartphone messaging application, which the government says had been used by the network tied to Gullen.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ally-turned-foe, Gulen is blamed by Ankara for orchestrating the abortive coup last July with the aim of unseating the head of state.
A sweeping manhunt has ensued, which has seen more than 41,000 being put in jail pending trial.
Some 120,000 people have been suspended or dismissed, although thousands of them have been given back their jobs. As many as 100,000 others face investigation.
Meanwhile, Turkish prosecutors have called for an imprisonment term of up to 142 years for the co-head of the country’s pro-Kurdish opposition party over alleged charges of links to Kurdish militants.
In an indictment released on Tuesday, the prosecutors in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority southeastern city of Diyarbakir demanded a jail term of between 43 and 142 years for Selahattin Demirtas, the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) co-leader, who has been held in custody for more than two months.
They accused Demirtas of "aiding an armed terrorist organization knowingly and intentionally without being a member,” in reference to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, also known as the PKK.
Among other charges leveled against the politician were "praising crime and the criminal” and "inciting people to violence and hatred.”