Police have arrested more than 1,000 people in an operation across Turkey against a movement blamed for last summer’s failed coup.
Raids were continuing as authorities targeted what was described as a secret structure within Turkey’s police force.
Turkey says a movement loyal to US-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen organised the July 2016 plot to bring down President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Earlier this month the president won a referendum on boosting his powers.
As a result of the narrow victory Mr Erdogan can become head of the executive, beefing up the largely ceremonial role of Turkey’s president.
“1,009 covert ‘imams’ in 72 provinces have been taken into custody so far,” Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu was reported as saying, calling it an important step for Turkey.
Since the coup, in which 249 people died, the government has accused the Gulenist movement of infiltrating the the country’s institutions including the police, military and judiciary and of running a state within a state.
Turkey says that 47,000 people have been detained, including 10,700 police and 7,4000 members of the military. Thousands of people have lost their jobs, too, and opposition media outlets have been closed down.
The Council of Europe’s parliamentary assembly angered Turkey on Tuesday by placing the country under review and calling for urgent measures to restore freedom of expression and the press.
President Erdogan, in an interview with Reuters news agency, accused the EU of “closing its doors on Turkey”.
“In Europe, things have become very serious in terms of the extent of Islamophobia,” he suggested
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