Turkey seeks arrest of 122 people in raids over alleged coup links

2 Jul, 2019 12:29 / Updated 5 years ago

Turkish police launched nationwide raids on Tuesday to detain 122 individuals accused of ties to the group blamed for a 2016 coup attempt.

Prosecutors from Istanbul, Konya and Izmir issued arrest warrants for suspects including soldiers, some of whom are still on active duty, Anadolu said, adding that 41 suspects had been detained so far.

Since 2016, more than 140,000 public sector employees have been sacked or suspended, AFP reported.

There have been hundreds of detentions in recent months despite criticism from Western allies. Turkish officials say the raids are necessary to remove the group’s influence from state institutions.