ISTANBUL
Turkish police late Monday freed four more suspects from the 29 initially detained in an operation on local media figures and police officials in 13 provinces across the country, officials have said.
Producer Salih Asan along with director Engin Koc, and scriptwriters Hikmet Tombulca and Samim Noyan have been released.
This has brought the number of the suspects released to eleven. The remaining 18 are still under investigation.
Earlier in the day, Elif Yilmaz, Ebru Senvardar and Naci Celik Berksoy, who worked on a TV series known as "One Turkey" which broadcasts on Samanyolu, were also released.
In addition, Huseyin Gulerce, a former columnist of daily Zaman, which is allegedly linked to U.S.-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, was freed after three hours of questioning, according to security officials.
Prosecutor Hasan Yilmaz continued to take testimony from other detainees, including the editor-in-chief of Turkey’s Zaman daily, Ekrem Dumanli; the chairman of Samanyolu Media Group, Hidayet Karaca, as well as Makbule Cam Alemdag, a scriptwriter of a TV series, which airs on the network.
All those detained are allegedly linked with Gulen and his so-called Gulen movement. The Zaman daily is also allegedly close to the same movement.
Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor Hadi Salihoglu said Sunday he had ordered the detention of 31 suspects on charges of forgery, fabricating evidence and forming a crime syndicate to overtake the sovereignty of the state.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to take to task alleged Gulen movement group members on numerous occasions. The government has described the movement and its supporters as the "parallel state" since late 2013.
In December 2013, an anti-graft probe targeted several high-profile figures, including the sons of three former government ministers and leading Turkish businessmen.
The government denounced the probe as a "dirty plot" constructed by the "parallel state," an alleged group of bureaucrats embedded in the country's institutions, including the judiciary and the police.
Since then, hundreds of police officers have been detained on charges of eavesdropping on Turkey's top officials, disclosing highly sensitive information, forming and belonging to an organization to commit crime, violating privacy, illegally seizing personal information and forgery of official documents.
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