Turkey’s Security General Directorate on Tuesday announced that a total of 12,801 police officers have been suspended from their posts over suspected links to Fethullah Gulen, the U.S.-based preacher.
According to the statement released, out of the dismissed officials, 2,543 are ranking officers.
Meanwhile, the Turkish Interior Ministry has also dismissed 37 people over links to Gulen.
Gulen is blamed by Turkish government for orchestrating a failed coup attempt on July 15.
A report has said no fewer than 241 people were killed and over 2,000 were injured in the attempt.
Meanwhile, Turkish police on Tuesday raided the main offices and broadcast centre of IMC TV, a key opposition news channel in the country, cutting the broadcast.
Reports say journalists and politicians were using social media to broadcast the crackdown over the Internet.
However IMC also confirmed the raid by armed police on its Twitter account.
IMC was among over 20 channels that Turkey’s broadcasting authority ordered shut recently, drawing strong condemnation from press freedom groups like the Committee to Protect Journalists.
The measure affected mostly Kurdish and leftist broadcasters, including a children’s channel that showed cartoons in the Kurdish language.
“The right to information has been hindered. This is anti-democratic and unacceptable,’’ Hamza Aktan, news editor of IMC TV, told newsmen.
Since the failed July coup, Turkey has implemented a state of emergency.
The government blamed the putsch on Fethullah Gulen, a U.S.-based preacher, and has shut dozens of media outlets affiliated with his movement.
However, the government has also increasingly moved against Kurdish activists, politicians and media, alleging they have ties to militants.
