Ankara Orders Arrest of 249 Foreign Ministry Personnel in Post-coup Probe

Turkish authorities have ordered the arrest of 249 foreign ministry personnel over supposed links to the network of Fethullah Gulen, a religious leader accused of having been behind a 2016 coup attempt, Reuters reports, citing Turkish media. The Ankara chief prosecutor’s office ordered the arrests after it said investigations found the suspects had committed irregularities in the ministry’s entrance exams, according to Turkish news channel NTV. Since the failed coup, Turkish officials have been carrying out regular operations against suspected followers of Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in the United States since 1999 and was stripped of his Turkish citizenship in 2017. Gulen denies allegations he was behind it. Thus far, more than 77,000 people have been jailed pending trial, and some 150,000 civil servants, military personnel and others have been dismissed or suspended from employment. Rights groups and the West have accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of using the revolt as a political ploy to quash dissent, whereas the Turkish government has claimed the measures are necessary. Ties between Washington and Ankara have been frayed since US President Donald Trump rejected Erdogan’s demand that Gulen be extradited back to Turkey.