Turkey Seeks Detention of 84 Coup Suspects

Date: 13 April 2021 - 22:20

News ID: ۸۹۱۲۸

ISTANBUL (Dispatches) – Turkish prosecutors on Tuesday issued detention warrants for 84 suspects over their alleged links to a network accused of orchestrating a coup attempt in 2016.
Police launched simultaneous operations in 49 provinces to arrest the suspects, upon the order of the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in Izmir, the state-run Anadolu agency reported.
Those targeted in the operations were reportedly soldiers on active duty, expelled military personnel, and on-duty police officers.
The suspects have alleged connections with the network headed by the U.S.-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, said the agency.
The Turkish government blames Gulen and his network for masterminding the coup bid in July 2016, in which 250 people were killed, and has been pushing for his extradition.
Meanwhile, an Ankara court has ordered the release of ten retired Turkish admirals who were detained earlier this month for signing a declaration in defense of the Montreux convention, NTV reports.
The ten admirals are being released on a signature bond, NTV said on Tuesday.
Earlier, lawyer Celal Ulgen told Sputnik that the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office had demanded the arrest of one of the retired admirals, Ergun Mengi, who signed the collective letter in defense of the Montreux convention, and was asking for nine more admirals to be subject to house arrest.
Earlier this month, over 100 retired Turkish admirals published a letter highlighting the need for the country to stay in the Montreux convention amid plans to build a huge canal on the edge of Istanbul, which would not be covered by the treaty.
In addition, the letter spoke in favor of keeping the current constitution against the backdrop of the president’s calls for a new basic law. The admirals also criticized the military top brass for alleged departure from the path outlined by Turkish founding father Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has condemned the retired admirals’ letter saying that the military has no right to interfere in politics. Erdogan has, however, reaffirmed Turkey’s commitment to the convention.
The Montreux Convention was adopted in 1936 in an attempt to guarantee freedom of passage through the strategic Bosporus and Dardanelles straits for merchant ships of all countries, both in peace and wartime.