Turkish police detain dozens of air force personnel over coup links – report

Turkish police detained 65 suspects on Thursday in an operation targeting air force personnel accused of links to US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara says orchestrated an attempted coup in 2016, according to state-run Anadolu news agency. Arrest warrants were issued for a total 96 people, of which 91 were from the air force. Police were still seeking the remaining suspects. The operation focused on the western city of Izmir and spread across 15 provinces. The suspects were said to have ties to Gulen, whose network is accused of being behind the failed putsch in July 2016. Gulen has denied involvement. An Ankara prosecutor on Thursday issued detention warrants in a separate development for 93 employees of a private tutoring center that was previously closed down on suspicion of links to Gulen’s network.