More than a month after the July 15 coup attempt in Turkey, the crackdown on suspected members of the Gulen community, the accused culprits of the putsch, is continuing and expanding. As of Aug. 18, about 12,000 people have been jailed pending trial, including prominent businessmen, academics, journalists and soldiers;�10,000 people remain in custody for questioning and 85,000 public servants have been either suspended or dismissed. To make room in the prisons, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government issued a legislative decree last week, paving the way for the release of at least 38,000 prisoners, including convicted thieves.

So where will all this end and what is the criteria in the detentions? The government�s answer is highly controversial as it outlines criteria aimed openly at shielding the AKP, which had enjoyed a decadelong alliance with the Gulen community and showered it with favors. It was only after the two fell out that the government branded the community the Fethullah Gulen Terror Organization (FETO).

So the date of the fallout is now pinned as a milestone in �detecting� Gulenists and their supporters. It was Prime Minister Binali Yildirim himself who drew the line in response to mounting criticism that the purges had become a witch hunt. Even his deputy, Tugrul Turkes, joined the outcry, saying, �People have come to blame FETO even for the broken shock absorbers of their cars.� In remarks on Aug. 13, Yildirim pledged the authorities would work meticulously, adding, �We�ve determined Dec. 17-25 [2013] as the milestone.�

The premier was referring to two massive corruption probes that became public Dec. 17-25, 2013, as police moved to round up suspects, including the sons of Cabinet ministers, AKP members and crony businessmen. The government argued the probes were a plot by Gulenist police and prosecutors to unseat the AKP, dismissed leaked incriminating tapes as fabrication and soon blocked the probes. Of note, a top suspect in the probes, Iranian-Turkish gold trader Reza Zarrab, is now awaiting trial in the United States for breaching US sanctions on Iran, and the 2013 investigation is said to serve as reference for US prosecutors.
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