Over 50,000 jailed in Turkey for links to defeated coup

By Omer Ertugrul

YOZGAT, Turkey

More than 50,000 people were jailed in Turkey for links to the July 2016 defeated coup carried out by the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), according to the justice minister on Friday.

Speaking to reporters in central Yozgat province, Bekir Bozdag said 50,504 people were in Turkish prisons.

Officials carried out judicial procedures against 168,801 suspects since the coup attempt last year, Bozdag said.

He added that 615 more suspects had been arrested while arrest warrants were out for 8,069 others.

Moreover, 48,371 people are released under judicial supervision, out of whom 8,551 were released after being remanded in custody; 433 others were released without judicial supervision, he said.

Since the coup, Turkey has arrested tens of thousands of suspected FETO supporters and dismissed more than 100,000 public servants from across the government.

According to Turkey’s government, the FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen-orchestrated the defeated coup of July 2016, which left 250 people martyred and injured nearly 2,200 others.