At least 27 former Turkish diplomats, including one woman, have been arrested as suspects in an alleged conspiracy amid mounting evidence that many of them were tortured and threatened with rape.

The arrests follow the mass detention on May 20 of around 110 former diplomats accused of cheating on the Foreign Ministry’s entrance exams with help from an Islamic fraternity that used to be allied with the government and is now classified as a terror organization known as the “Fethullah Gulen Terror Organization” or FETO.

The group, led by the Pennsylvania-based Sunni cleric Fethullah Gulen, is accused of plotting the July 2016 coup attempt to bloodily overthrow Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The timing of the former diplomats’ arrests has raised questions about the government’s motives and there is speculation that the real target may be former Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. Some believe it’s an attempt to intimidate purged officials into not seeking redress.

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