More than 200 people , or " secret imams " , have been arrested by Turkish authorities , accused of infiltrating police forces across the country on behalf of a former ally of President Erdogan , Istanbul - based cleric Fethullah Gulen , who was blamed by Erdogan for last year 's failed coup . Another 9,103 people from the police force were arrested on Sunday , according to police headquarters in Ankara , which cited links with Gulen 's network . The president compared the struggle against Gulen with the state 's battle against Islamic State and Kurdish PKK militants .
More than 1,000 people, or "secret imams", have been arrested by Turkish authorities, accused of infiltrating police forces across the country on behalf of a former ally of President Erdogan, US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who was blamed by Erdogan for last year's failed coup. Another 9,103 people from the police force were suspended on Wednesday, according to police headquarters in Ankara, which cited links with Gulen's network. The president compared the struggle against Gulen with the state's battle against Islamic State and Kurdish PKK militants.