ISTANBUL: Turkish authorities began rounding up 155 suspected followers of the cleric Fethullah Gulen on Friday, police and media said.
Ankara accuses Gulen, who lives in the United States, of masterminding a failed coup in July 2016, a claim he denies. Since the coup attempt, the authorities have arrested thousands of his suspected followers and fired thousands more.
Friday’s roundup included warrants for 55 employees in 13 provinces of Isik Publications, a publishing company that printed Gulen’s books, Istanbul police said.
Warrants were also issued for 38 former police officers in six provinces who were accused of being members of Gulen’s purported network, the state-run news agency Anadolu reported. Twenty-four had been detained, it said.
In addition, police targeted 62 executives of five labor unions in a third operation spread across seven provinces, Anadolu said. Thirty-eight had been detained, it said.
The labor unions were part of Aksiyon Is Confederation, an association of unions that was shut down over suspected links to the Gulen network.
In the 18 months through December 2017, nearly 160,000 people have been arrested and 152,000 civil servants sacked as part of a post-coup crackdown, according to a report published by the United Nations on Tuesday.
The UN urged Turkey to end its state of emergency, which was declared after the coup and has been extended six times. It accused Ankara of mass arrests, arbitrary sackings, collective punishment and torturing detainees.
Turkey’s foreign ministry said the report was filled with unfounded allegations and compared the criticism to propaganda from militant groups.
The crackdown has also been criticized by Turkey’s Western allies, who accuse President Tayyip Erdogan of using the failed putsch as a pretext to quash dissent. Turkey says the measures are necessary to combat threats to national security.
Turkey targets 155 suspected Gulenists in new operations, police, media say
Turkey targets 155 suspected Gulenists in new operations, police, media say
Somali president visits city claimed by breakaway region
MOGADISHU: Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on Friday visited a provincial capital claimed by the breakaway region of Somaliland -- the first visit there by a sitting president in over 40 years.
The visit to Las Anod, the administrative capital of the Sool region, comes amid heightened diplomatic tensions in the Horn of Africa after Israel officially recognised Somaliland, drawing strong opposition from Mogadishu.
Mohamud was attending the inauguration of the president of the newly created Northeast State, which became Somalia's sixth federal state in August.
It was the first visit by a Somali president since 1984.
Somalia is a federation of semi-autonomous states, some of which have fraught relations with the central government in Mogadishu.
The Northeast State comprises the regions of Sool, Sanaag and Cayn, all territories Somaliland claims as integral to its borders.
Somaliland had controlled Las Anod since 2007 but was forced to withdraw in 2023 after violent clashes with Somali forces and pro-Mogadishu militias left scores dead.
Mohamud's visit "is a symbol of strengthening the unity and efforts of the federal government to enforce the territorial unity of the Somali country and its people", the Somali president's office said.
