Turkish prosecutors issued arrest warrants for 101 members of the air force, including one general and several colonels, over suspected links to the organisation of a religious leader blamed for the 2016 coup attempt, state-run Anadolu news agency reported. Thirty-three military personnel were taken into custody on Thursday, the Hurriyet daily said, adding that the investigation launched by prosecutors in Ankara spread across 21 other provinces. Ankara blames the movement of Fethullah Gulen, a US-based self-exiled religious leader, for the attempt to take over the government. He denies any involvement. Turkey has been under a state of emergency since July 2016 after about 300 people were killed during the failed coup. Turkey has detained 160,000 people and dismissed nearly the same number from civil service jobs since the attempt, the UN human rights office said in March. Of that number, more than 50,000 have been formally charged and kept in jail during trial.
