Turkish authorities have ordered the arrest of 105 people working in information technology who were believed to have been involved in the attempted military coup a year ago, state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Tuesday.

ISTANBUL: Turkish authorities have ordered the arrest of 105 people working in information technology who were believed to have been involved in the attempted military coup a year ago, state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Tuesday.

In the last year, there has been a steady stream of police operations targeting people suspected of links to the U.S.-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of orchestrating the failed putsch on July 15.

Police have so far detained 52 people out of the 105 targeted by arrest warrants across eight provinces, including former staff from Turkey's scientific research council TUBITAK and a telecommunications authority, Anadolu said.

It said the suspects were believed to be users of ByLock, an encrypted messaging app the government says was used by Gulen's followers. Gulen has denied involvement in the attempted military takeover.

On Monday, Turkey issued arrest warrants for 72 university staff, including a former adviser to the main opposition leader who staged a mass rally on Sunday to protest against a crackdown in the last year.

About 50,000 people have been arrested and 150,000 state workers including teachers, judges and soldiers have been suspended under emergency rule imposed in late July.

Rights groups and government critics say Turkey has been drifting toward authoritarianism for years, a process they say accelerated since the coup bid and a referendum in April granting President Tayyip Erdogan sweeping new powers.

The government says the crackdown and constitutional changes are necessary to address security threats. More than 240 people were killed in the coup attempt. </s> ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish authorities have ordered the arrest of 105 people working in information technology on suspicion of involvement in an attempted military coup a year ago, state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Tuesday.

Over the last year, there has been a large number of police operations targeting people suspected of links to the U.S.-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of orchestrating the failed putsch on July 15.

In the latest operations focused on IT employees in both the private and public sectors, police have so far detained 52 people out of the 105 targeted by arrest warrants across eight provinces, including former staff from Turkey’s scientific research council TUBITAK and a telecommunications authority, Anadolu said.

It said the suspects were believed to be users of ByLock, an encrypted messaging app the government says was used by Gulen’s followers. Gulen has denied involvement in the attempted military takeover.

On Monday authorities issued arrest warrants for 72 university staff, including a former adviser to Turkey’s main opposition leader who staged a mass rally on Sunday to protest against a crackdown in the last year.

Last week police detained 10 people, including the local head of rights group Amnesty International at a meeting on an island near Istanbul. Their detentions were extended for another seven days on Tuesday, a source close to the matter said.

In total, about 50,000 people have been arrested and 150,000 state workers including teachers, judges and soldiers have been suspended under the emergency rule imposed in late July.

Rights groups and government critics say Turkey has been drifting toward authoritarianism for years, a process they say has accelerated since the coup bid and a referendum in April granting President Tayyip Erdogan sweeping new powers.

The government says the crackdown and constitutional changes are necessary to address security threats. More than 240 people were killed in last year’s coup attempt. </s> Authorities in Turkey have arrested 1,656 people in the past six months for allegedly supporting terrorist organisations or insulting officials on social media - and are investigating at least 10,000 others.

The interior ministry said legal action had been taken against 3,710 people identified by police.

Besides those arrested, 1,203 people were released on probation, 767 were released and 84 others are still in detention.

Additionally, investigations and legal procedures are under way against an additional 10,000 people reported to public prosecutors.

Turkey has cracked down on dissent following a failed coup in July, with thousands detained over alleged ties to outlawed groups.

Authorities also frequently restrict access to social media platforms to prevent the spread of material authorities say would harm public security. </s> Turkish authorities have formally arrested 1,656 people in the past six months for allegedly supporting terrorist organizations or insulting officials on social media, and are investigating at least 10,000 others, the Interior Ministry said Saturday.

In a statement it said legal action had been taken against 3,710 people identified by police. Beside those arrested, 1,203 people were released on probation, 767 were released and 84 others are still in detention.

Charges include provoking hatred among the people; praising terrorist organizations; disseminating terrorist propaganda; openly declaring allegiance to terrorist groups; insulting statesmen; and targeting the indivisibility of the state or safety of citizens.

Investigations and legal procedures are underway against an additional 10,000 people reported to public prosecutors.

Turkey declared a state of emergency soon after a failed coup in July, detaining thousands of citizens and purging tens of thousands of public servants over alleged ties to outlawed groups.

Western governments, human rights group and legal experts have repeatedly expressed concern over the crackdown, which some say has begun targeting political opponents and critics. Ankara defends its actions saying they are necessary precautions in the face of ongoing nationwide terrorism.

This year Turkey has seen a series of attacks and bombings in major cities that were the work of either the Islamic State group or Kurdish militants.

Turkey frequently restricts access to social media websites to prevent the spread of graphic images and other material authorities say would harm public order or security.

Such restrictions usually follow a major crackdown or a terrorist attack. On Friday access was restricted to social media websites for several hours after the Islamic State group released a video purportedly showing two Turkish soldiers being burned alive. </s> An Istanbul court on Saturday ordered the formal arrest of nine employees of the opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper, widening Turkey’s crackdown on dissenting voices. The arrests came hours after a bomb in the country’s southeast killed two children.

The formal arrests, which come a day after nine co-leaders of the pro-Kurdish opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) were jailed pending trial, are likely to spark more concern among Turkey’s allies about President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s intolerance of dissent in the wake of a failed July 15 coup.

More than 110,000 officials, including judges, teachers, police and civil servants, have been detained or suspended following the botched coup. Erdogan’s critics say he is using the coup as a pretext to squash the opposition, while Ankara says the crackdown is necessary to root out terrorists.

The Cumhuriyet staff placed under arrest had been held earlier this week. They include Cumhuriyet’s editor-in-chief Murat Sabuncu, celebrated cartoonist Musa Kart and influential anti-Erdogan columnist Kadri Gursel — some of the most prominent names in Turkish journalism — the state-run Anadolu and private Dogan news agencies said.

The suspects are charged with links to the outlawed Kurdish militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the movement of US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, blamed by Erdogan for the failed coup bid. Gulen denies the accusations.

Like the nine HDP MPs, the newspaper staff will now be held behind bars ahead of a trial, a date for which has yet to be set.

The arrests have heightened concern among Western allies about the political direction of Turkey, a NATO member and a buffer between Europe and the conflicts raging in Syria and Iraq.

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said she was “extremely worried” by the arrests, and raised her concerns in a telephone call with Turkey’s foreign and EU affairs ministers late on Friday. The United States, meanwhile, expressed “deep concern”.

Hours after Friday’s detentions, a car bomb killed 11 people and wounded more than 100 near a police station in the south-eastern city of Diyarbakir where some of the lawmakers were being held.

The government immediately blamed the PKK for the attack, but the Amaq news agency, which is linked to the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, said that its fighters were behind the bombing, the SITE Intelligence Group said. There has so far been no comment from the PKK.

In a separate attack on Saturday, at least two children were killed and four more were wounded when a bomb went off in the south-eastern province of Sirnak. According to the local governor’s office, the bomb had been planted by PKK militants. The deadly blast occurred just hours after authorities appointed a new mayor to the Sirnak municipality in a move to replace municipal officials it accuses of supporting the PKK.

Turkish authorities have also sparked controversy by slapping restrictions on social media and messaging services like WhatsApp.

Users encountered problems on Friday and Saturday loading social media and also using Virtual Private Network (VPN) connections which people often use to circumvent such restrictions. -AFP </s> ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey has so far detained 573 people for social media posts and protests criticizing its military offensive in Syria, the government said on Monday.

Turkish military armoured vehicles arrive at a border village near the town of Hassa in Hatay province, Turkey, January 21, 2018. Baris Kadirhan/Depo Photos via REUTERS

The crackdown, which has extended to the national medical association, has deepened concerns about free speech under President Tayyip Erdogan, who has criticized opponents of the military intervention as “traitors”.

Turkey last month launched an air and ground offensive, dubbed Operation Olive Branch, against the Kurdish YPG militia in Syria’s northwestern Afrin region. Authorities have repeatedly warned they would prosecute those opposing, criticizing or misrepresenting the incursion.

“Since the start of Operation Olive Branch, 449 people have been detained for spreading terrorist propaganda on social media and 124 people detained for taking part in protest action,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

The operation has been widely supported by Turkey’s mainly pro-government media and by most political parties, with the exception of the pro-Kurdish opposition.

Last week, a prosecutor ordered the detention of 11 senior members of the Turkish Medical Association, including its chairman, after the organization criticized the incursion, saying: “No to war, peace immediately”.

Erdogan criticized the body as traitors. All of the doctors have since been released on probation, the association said on Twitter. Detention orders have been issued for another 13 people for supporting the medics.

“There are laws that prohibit the glorification of terrorism, support for terrorism through propaganda and media. The prosecutors are implementing the laws,” Erdogan’s spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, told reporters in Istanbul at the weekend.

Ankara considers the U.S.-backed YPG, which controls Afrin, to be a terrorist group and an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which has fought an insurgency in Turkey’s largely Kurdish southeast since 1984.

Turkey is in the midst of a widening crackdown that began after a failed coup attempt in July 2016. Some 50,000 people have been jailed and 150,000 sacked or suspended from their jobs.

Critics, including rights groups and some Western allies, say Erdogan is using the coup as a pretext to muzzle dissent. The latest arrests have also drawn criticism from the European Union.

Turkey says its measures are necessary due to the gravity of the security threats it faces. </s> Turkey is investigating 10,000 people suspected of terror-related activity on the internet or posting comments on social media insulting government officials.

The inquiries are part of the “fight against terrorism”, which continues with determination everywhere, including on social networks.

After a coup attempt in July, Turkey declared a state of emergency and launched deep purges of perceived opponents, sparking concern among human rights groups which accuse Ankara of repression.

Turkish authorities are often accused of restricting access to social networks after serious incidents, such as attacks, to stop the circulation of information that could “undermine state security”.

Access was severely disrupted after the assassination on Monday of Andrei Karlov, Russia’s ambassador to Turkey . Twitter and YouTube have slowed since the publication on Thursday of a video in which the Islamic State group purportedly burned alive two captured Turkish soldiers.

Read more: Record number of journalists in jail globally after Turkey crackdown </s> ISTANBUL -- Turkey's state-run news agency says 10,131 more civil servants have been dismissed for alleged ties to terrorism while 15 mostly pro-Kurdish media outlets also have been shut down.

The dismissals were announced in the latest governmental decree issued over the weekend.

Turkey declared a state of emergency following the July 15 coup attempt allowing the government to rule by decree. It has since suspended tens of thousands of people from civil service over suspected links to terrorist organizations.

The latest dismissals include 2,534 personnel from the Justice Ministry, 2,219 from the Education Ministry, 2,774 from the Health Ministry, 1,267 from higher education institutions and 101 from the armed forces.

The same decree also shut down 15 mostly pro-Kurdish media outlets on similar grounds. </s> Turkish police have reportedly detained approximately 400 members of Islamic State (Isis) in raids across the country on Sunday (5 February).

Those arrested include foreigners and alleged terrorists suspected of planning attacks, reported Turkish news agency Anadolu.

Raids have been carried out in the capital of Ankara, where 60 people were detained, in addition to 150 suspects detained in Sanliurfa in the southeast.

Dozens more have been detained in provinces ranging from Bursa in the west to Bingol in the east.

This is a breaking story. More to follow...
Turkish authorities have ordered the arrest of 105 people working in information technology who were believed to have been involved in the attempted overthrow of the government last year, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Tuesday.