Istanbul court orders arrest of US-based preacher Gulen
A court in Istanbul ordered the arrests in absentia of US-based preacher Fetullah Gulen and ex-police officer Emre Uslu on Monday in connection with a “parallel state” probe.
The arrest warrants came days after Turkish police rounded up dozens of Gulen supporters, including high-ranking bureaucrats and police.
Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in the US since 1999, and his supporters have been accused of plotting to overthrow the elected Turkish government and wiretapping senior Turkish government figures, including the prime minister, National Intelligence Organisation (MIT) chief, cabinet ministers and journalists through serving state officials.
Gulen has long denied the accusations and said earlier this year that the crackdown on his Hizmet movement was a pretext for the AKP party to "justify their own authoritarianism".
The Istanbul court decided that the first trial of the case would be held in early February next year and also issued red notices for both suspects.
The indictment against Gulen and Uslu is 10,529-pages long. A total of 55 out of 122 suspects in the probe have already been arrested.
This is not the first time that a Turkish court has issued arrest warrants for Gulen and Uslu.
On 19 October, Istanbul's High Penal Court issued an arrest warrant for Gulen and his aide, Sinan Dursun, for "attempting to stage a coup, establishing and masterminding an armed organisation and political espionage" in Turkey.
On 24 February, a Turkish criminal court in Istanbul issued an arrest warrant for Gulen and Uslu, again related to the "parallel state" probe.
The "parallel state" refers to a purported group of Turkish bureaucrats and senior officials embedded in the country's institutions, including the judiciary and police, who are allegedly trying to undermine the elected government.
The ongoing operation against this network has resulted in the detention of dozens of police officers and the reassignment of hundreds of other officers across Turkey.
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