Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept.1
By Kamalya Seidova - Trend:
Special operations have been carried out in 16 districts of the Istanbul city within the frameworks of the investigation of the case on a "parallel structure" by the court in Istanbul [Fethullah Gulen movement - an Islamic social activist, currently residing in the United States], Turkish Haber 7 TV channel reports Sept.1.
Some 33 police officers were detained within the frameworks of the special operations, 14 of them are high-ranked ones.
On February 25, several Turkish media outlets said the telephone conversations of over 7,000 people close to both the country's ruling party and opposition parties, were wiretapped as part of an anti-terrorist operation against members of the 'Salam' organization in 2011.
It was also reported that the telephone conversations of Turkish intelligence head, Hakan Fidan were also wiretapped under these anti-terrorist operations.
After this, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Gulen of that, namely representatives of his movement stand behind the wiretapping of the phone conversations.
Erdogan also stressed that Gulen's movement (which he earlier called as a 'parallel structure') with its anti-state activities proved that it is not a religious movement, but a politicized and illegal structure.
Earlier, the prime minister called on Fethullah Gulen not to intervene in Turkey's internal affairs and accused the U.S. of supporting him.
A criminal case has been initiated in Turkey against Fethullah Gulen for his coup attempt and espionage against Turkey.
Earlier, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Gulen will be extradited from the U.S. But the United States authorities stated that extradition of Gulen is unacceptable.