A former police inspector was sent to prison to serve his sentence for allegedly having an affair with Glen

Former police inspector Ahmed Ertekin was arrested on Friday to serve more than six years in prison for his links to the Glen movement.

Ertekin, who was detained during a random identity check in Istanbul’s Gngren district and taken to the police station, was later arrested by the court.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan targeted followers of the faith-based Glenn movement, inspired by Turkish cleric Fethullah Glenn, on December 17-25, 2013, following corruption investigations into then-Prime Minister Erdogan, his family, and members of his family. its inner circle.

Evaluating the investigations as a conspiracy against the Glenist coup and his government, Erdogan called the movement a terrorist organization and started targeting its members. He intensified the crackdown on the movement after the July 15, 2016 coup attempt and accused Glenn of orchestrating it. Glen and the movement categorically deny involvement in the failed coup or any terrorist activity.

In June, Turkey’s General Directorate of Security dismissed 1,000 current or retired police officers from service or canceled their pensions based on a government order for alleged ties to terrorist organizations.

The action against the police officers was based on the temporary Article 35 of Decree No. 375, which was enacted during the two-year state of emergency declared after the failed coup d’état. Article 35 of the relevant government decision expired on July 31.

Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) government has been accused of firing experienced and capable police officers and filling the police force with cronies.

After the failed coup, the Turkish government declared a state of emergency and carried out a mass purge of state institutions under the pretext of counter-coup. More than 130,000 civil servants, including 4,156 judges and prosecutors, as well as 24,706 members of the armed forces, were summarily removed from their jobs under emergency decrees that were not subject to judicial or parliamentary scrutiny for alleged membership or association with terrorist organizations. .