ISTANBUL: Turkey on Wednesday detained more than 1,000 people in a huge new crackdown against alleged supporters of a cleric accused of orchestrating the coup bid against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The dawn raids across the country -- seeking more than 3,000 suspects -- come just over a week after Erdogan narrowly won a controversial referendum on ramping up his powers.
They are the latest indication Turkey intends no let-up in the fight against its perceived enemies after the vote, with fighter jets Tuesday pounding Kurdish militant targets in Iraq and northern Syria.
A total of 1,120 suspects have so far been detained, the official Anadolu news agency said.
Anadolu said 4,672 suspects were sought -- of whom 1,448 are already in jail -- meaning that a total of 3,224 arrest warrants were issued.
About 8,500 police officers were involved in the nationwide operation, Anadolu reported, adding that arrest warrants had been issued for 390 suspects in Istanbul alone. Turkish authorities blame US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen for masterminding the July 2016 failed military coup that aimed to oust Erdogan from power but he denies the charges.
Ankara accuses the Hizmet (Service) movement Gulen leads of being a "terror organisation", although the group insists it is a peaceful organisation promoting moderate Islam.
The government has repeatedly asked the United States to extradite Gulen, who has been living in exile there since 1999.
About 47,000 people have already been arrested in Turkey under a nine-month state of emergency in place since the coup bid, a crackdown whose magnitude has raised alarm in the West.
The Turkish parliament just ahead of the referendum extended the state of emergency by another three months to July 19. After the latest sweep, German foreign ministry spokesman Sebastian Fischer said Berlin "has taken note of the mass detentions with concern", urging respect for rule of law. The Hurriyet newspaper reported that arrest warrants had been issued against a total of 7,000 suspects across Turkey, citing unidentified sources.
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