Turkey indicts 265 over 'parallel state' probe

Prosecutors in Turkey on Monday indicted 265 suspects linked to the “parallel state” backed by U.S.-based preacher Fetullah Gulen in two separate cases.

In a 10,500-page indictment prepared by Istanbul’s Deputy Chief Prosecutor Irfan Fidan, 122 suspects including former police chiefs were accused of terrorism and espionage.

A second indictment submitted by Okan Ozsoy, the prosecutor for Istanbul’s Terror and Organized Crimes Bureau, claimed 143 serving and former police officers were involved in similar crimes.

Both indictments, which were sent to criminal courts in Istanbul for approval, relate to wiretapping operations carried out in recent years that targeted, among others, senior government officials and ministers.

The Justice and Development (AK) Party government says these operations were part of a plot by the parallel state -- a group of officials including police and prosecutors -- to overthrow the government.

The first indictment claims an inquiry into a purported terror group known as Selam Tevhid was used as a pretext to bug senior figures.

Among those named on the indictment are Gulen, journalist Emre Uslu and Istanbul’s former counterterrorism police chief Yurt Atayun.

They are accused of forming an armed terror group, political and military espionage, undermining the state, breaching privacy, forging official documents, fabricating crime and destroying evidence.

The prosecutor asked for sentences of more than 67 years for Gulen, Uslu and Atayun.

The second case included senior police intelligence officers among those accused of illegal wiretapping. The charges are the same as in the first indictment.