Prosecutors have ordered the arrest of nearly 1,000 suspects allegedly linked to the Gulen movement, which Ankara holds responsible for the failed coup attempt in July 2016, according to the Justice Ministry.

On July 15, 2016, a faction within the Turkish military attempted to overthrow the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The failed coup left more than 250 people dead and around 2,000 injured during the violence that followed.

Erdogan accused his former ally, Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen—who lived in the United States and died in 2024—of orchestrating the coup through his organization, which the Turkish government designates as the Fethullah Terrorist Organization (FETO).

Ankara imposed a state of emergency that remained in effect until 2018 and carried out sweeping purges across the military, police, judiciary, media, public administration, diplomatic corps, and education system.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been detained or arrested, while tens of thousands have been dismissed from their jobs or forced into exile, leaving a lasting impact on Turkish society.

On Monday, Justice Minister Akın Gurlek and Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci described the latest arrest warrants as a major operation against the network.

They said police are searching for 968 suspects as part of an effort to dismantle what the Turkish government describes as the terrorist organization FETO.

“The will of our nation and the survival of our state are threatened by the FETO/PDY network of traitors, and our struggle against it continues with the same determination as on the first day,” the ministers said in a statement posted on X, using the acronym PDY (“Parallel State Structure”), which Ankara says refers to the network established by Gulen’s followers.

The failed coup attempt is widely regarded as a turning point in modern Turkish political history, paving the way for Erdogan to further consolidate his power.

Last week, Ciftci sent a letter to the governors of Turkey’s 81 provinces, describing the events of July 15, 2016, as “a fundamental and indisputable turning point.”