Turkey: 68 held in ‘parallel state’ probe

ANKARA

Dozens of people were detained Tuesday in nationwide operations as part of an investigation into the financial activities of the ‘parallel state,’ police sources have said.

Sixty-eight suspects, including ministry staff, businessmen, teachers, lecturers and former chiefs of police were detained in simultaneous operations carried out in 20 provinces on Tuesday morning, sources at the Anti-Smuggling and Organized Crime Department in Ankara told Anadolu Agency.

Detainees also include company executives, municipal employees, presidents of foundations and associations, so-called provincial heads of the ‘parallel state’ as well as some employees of the national broadcaster, TRT.

Some suspects are reportedly abroad, while others fled the country, police said, adding that the number of those held could rise as there are arrest warrants for 52 other people.

Headed by Fetullah Gulen, a U.S.-based Islamic preacher who runs a network of schools and commercial enterprises in Turkey and around the world, the ‘parallel state’ represents a clandestine group of Turkish bureaucrats and senior officials, allegedly embedded in the country’s institutions, including the judiciary and the police.

Known also by the initials FETO/PDY, the organization is also said to be behind a Dec. 2013 corruption investigation into senior government figures, including ministers.

Since early 2014, investigations into the parallel state have seen hundreds of civil servants, including police and public prosecutors, arrested or reassigned.