16,000 arrested people in coup investigation

Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said that 16,000 people have been formally arrested and remanded in custody in connection with last month’s failed coup attempt, while another 6,000 detainees were still being processed.

Another 7,668 people were under investigation but were not currently detained, he said in an interview broadcast live on Turkish television channels

Turkey suspended over 2,500 more staff from the powerful religious affairs state agency in the latest purge after last month’s failed coup blamed on US-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen.  The religious affairs directorate, Diyanet, said in a statement that 2,560 people have been suspended in the latest wave, bringing the total dismissed to 3,672 since July 15. Diyanet, which is directly linked to the prime minister’s office, was established in 1924 to control religion in officially secular modern Turkey. The agency has a budget larger than many ministries including health and takes care of close to 80,000 mosques in the predominantly Muslim country. It has 100,000 personnel including imams.