Turkey arrests Fethullah Gulen’s barber from 26 years ago
Date posted: April 15, 2017
At least 16 people have been detained in the western province of Izmir, including a 50-year-old hairdresser, identified as İ.D., who used to give haircut to Fethullah Gülen during 1990s.
Police carried out operations to round up 16 suspects in Adana, Antalya and Hatay provinces as well as in Izmir’s Cesme district, as part of an investigation into the Gulen movement, over the past days.
According to state-run Anadolu news agency on Friday, I.D. was put in pre-trial arrest along with 2 others over charges of membership to a terrorist organization while 5 were released on judicial control.
The remaining 8 suspects were still waiting to give their testimonies to the prosecutor on Friday.
The government accuses Fethullah Gulen and the Gulen movement of being behind the July 15 coup attempt. Some 115,000 have been detained over Gulen links since last summer while critics often raise the issue of guilt by association. Gulen, meanwhile, denies any involvement.
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“I heard all kinds of curse and swearing against my family during the interrogation. They threatened me with raping my family members. I saw one man who had a black eye on his eyes. I witnessed another man as having difficulty in walking because police shoved a baton into his anus. So many victims have marks in their bodies from abuse and torture.”
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