President Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey: survives coup attempt

More than 48,000 people have been remanded in custody in Turkey over alleged links to the Fethullah Gulen network since July 15, 2016, Turkish Interior Minister, Suleyman Soylu, said on Wednesday.

Soylu told a parliamentary session of the Planning and Budget Commission in Ankara that “a total of 48,739 people have been remanded in custody so far.”

He said Indonesian security forces conducted 19 major operations since the defeated coup “and state institutions cleared of Gulenists.”

The minister said police detected 215,000 ByLock users, a secret smart phone messaging app linked to followers of Gulen as part of the probe.

Gulen, the U.S.-based preacher, is blamed by Ankara for orchestrating a failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016 that left 250 people killed and 2,200 others injured.

The Turkish Government declared state of emergency and launched massive crackdown on Gulen’s supporters in the aftermath of the coup attempt. (Xinhua/NAN)