Turkish court releases seven arrested ‘parallel state’ police officers

ANTALYA - Doğan News Agency

The police officers were released from prison late on Oct. 6 and were reunited with their relatives.

A local court in Antalya has ruled for the release of seven police officers who were arrested on Sept. 29 for their alleged links to the “parallel state,” a term used by the government for those who have allegedly infiltrated the state to work on behalf of Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen’s movement.

The police officers were released from prison late on Oct. 6 and were reunited with their relatives.

On Sept. 29, 14 police officers, including former police intelligence chiefs, were detained in an early morning operation that took place across five provinces, Antalya, Mersin, Hatay, Şanlıurfa and Diyarbakır.

The remaining seven detained officers are still being held under arrest.

It is alleged that the officers illegally wiretapped 134 people. They also face charges of “founding and managing a criminal organization for their interest, violating the privacy of communication, forgery in official documents [and] fabricating crimes.”

Dozens of police officers arrested in operations conducted in recent months are currently in custody pending trial on charges that they established a criminal organization and conducted espionage.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has repeatedly accused Gülen, whose followers are known to hold influential positions within the police and judiciary, of conducting the graft investigation in December as part of a coup attempt against the elected government.