Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 5
By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:
The Turkish government has resumed operations against the Fethullah Gulen's movement [an Islamic social activist, currently residing in the U.S], Turkish TRT Haber channel reported on Aug. 5.
The supporters of this movement were dismissed in the police departments as part of these operations in Istanbul.
It was reported earlier that over 70 policemen were detained on July 22 as a result of the operations carried out by Turkey against the supporters of the Gulen movement. The former Istanbul Police Department Intelligence Bureau chief Ali Fuat Yılmazer was among the detained.
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., adding that Turkey has launched the legal procedure for extradition of Gulen.