Ankara — Turkish police Tuesday detained a former adviser to the main opposition party leader over alleged links to the group led by the US-based Islamic preacher blamed for the July failed coup, state media reported.
Fatih Gursul was a former science, technology and communications adviser to the secular main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the official news agency Anadolu said.
He was detained in Ankara, the agency said, adding that he had been fired in August from his post as an academic at Istanbul University as part of a probe into the July 15 coup attempt.
The CHP said that after his firing from the university by emergency decree, he was not "actively" advising the party anymore, quoted by Dogan news agency.
However, on his official Twitter account, Gursel describes himself as a senior adviser to Kilicdaroglu.
The CNN Turk broadcaster said he was allegedly a user of an encrypted messaging app, ByLock, which the Turkish authorities say was employed by followers of Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen.
Turkey accuses Gulen, who lives in self-exile in Pennsylvania, of masterminding the attempted putsch aimed at overthrowing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Gulen strongly denies the charges and insists his movement is a peaceful organisation.
Erdogan had praised Kilicdaroglu for showing solidarity in the wake of the coup but tensions have risen since then with the opposition chief bitterly critical of the ensuing crackdown.
Since July 15, more than 37,000 people have been arrested on suspicion of links to Gulen, causing alarm in Western capitals.
Ten pro-Kurdish MPs from the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) have been arrested but this is the first time that a figure from within the CHP chief's inner circle has been detained.
Turkey insists it is dealing with an extraordinary threat and is acting within the rule of law, with the crackdown showing no sign of slowing down.
Ali Ozcan, the owner of a major kebab chain, Donerci Ali Usta in Istanbul, was also charged Tuesday with being a member of Gulen's group, CNN Turk reported.
And 14 academics were placed under arrest in Istanbul accused of being members of an "armed terrorist organisation" as part of the probe into the movement's "academic structure", Dogan reported. — AFP
