ANKARA, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- More than 48,000 people have been remanded in custody in Turkey over alleged links to the Gulen network since July 15, 2016, Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said Wednesday.
"A total of 48,739 people have been remanded in custody so far," Soylu told a parliamentary session of the Planning and Budget Commission.
The security forces have conducted 19 major operations since the defeated coup, and "state institutions have been largely cleared of Gulenists," he was quoted by state-fun Anadolu Agency as saying.
The police also detected around 215,000 ByLock users, a secret smart phone messaging app linked to followers of Gulen, as part of the probe.
Fethullah Gulen, the U.S.-based preacher, is blamed by Ankara for orchestrating a failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016 that left 250 people killed and 2,200 others injured.
The Turkish government declared a state of emergency and launched a massive crackdown on Gulen's supporters in the aftermath of the coup attempt.
