Ankara — A massive process to dismiss diplomats with suspected Gülenist sympathies from the Turkish Foreign Ministry began early on Tuesday following the failed coup attempt, Hurriyet Daily News reports.
Notifications have been sent to dozens of diplomats, including two ambassadors, upon the instruction of Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu.
The ambassador-level diplomats who were dismissed included Gürcan Balık, who has long served as the chief adviser to former Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, and former ambassador to Canada Tuncay Babalı. Two other ambassador-level diplomats, Şentürk Uzun and Ali Fındık, were dismissed prior to the July 15 failed coup attempt.
Apart from the ambassadors, dozens of lower-level diplomats were also dismissed from the ministry over their links to the Fethullah Gülen organization.
Meanwhile, two Turkish generals serving in Afghanistan have been detained in Dubai on suspicion of links to the July 15 failed coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a Turkish official said Tuesday.
Maj. Gen. Mehmet Cahit Bakir, the commander of Turkey’s task force in Afghanistan, and Brig. Gen. Sener Topuc were detained at Dubai airport, said the official, who asked not to be named.
The detentions followed cooperation between the Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MIT) and the UAE authorities, the state-run Anadolu news agency added, without giving further details. These are the first detentions of senior army figures serving outside Turkey as part of the investigation into the coup, which Ankara blames on the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen.
In a separate development, the former governor of Istanbul Huseyin Avni Mutlu was detained in the coup investigation, Anadolu said.
More than 13,000 people, including over 100 generals, have been detained so far in a vast sweep in the wake of the July 15 military coup bid, prompting anxiety abroad over the scope of the crackdown.
Turkey’s religious affairs directorate has so far removed a total of 1,112 personnel, including preachers and instructors, since the July 15 failed military coup, it said on Tuesday.
Turkish authorities accuse US-based Islamic preacher and scholar Fethullah Gulen of orchestrating the abortive coup, in which at least 246 people were killed.
Turkey on Tuesday detained prominent journalists in a widening of the relentless legal crackdown.
The crackdown and announcement of a three-month state of emergency has prompted sharp exchanges with the European Union, which Turkey has for years sought to join but which has sternly warned Ankara to obey the rule of law.
In a sign of the shifting priorities in Turkish diplomacy after the coup, Erdogan will visit Russia in August to repair ties harmed by a row over the shooting down of a Russian warplane, officials said.
Turkish authorities detained veteran female journalist Nazli Ilicak as part of the investigation into the coup after issuing arrest warrants for over 42 reporters a day earlier in a move that caused international concern.
She was detained early on Tuesday during a traffic check in the southwestern Bodrum region, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.
Ilicak is now being taken to Istanbul where she will later appear in court to learn if she will be remanded in custody.
According to the Dogan news agency, eight of the 42 journalists have now been detained including Ilicak and the former pro-Gulen Zaman newspaper writer Hanim Busra Erdal who was picked up in the western city of Manisa.
