The minister said that the arrest of Gulen supporters is not a political issue.

On Dec.15, the Turkish police detained the Chief Editor of the Zaman newspaper Ekrem Dumanli. Searches took place at the office of the Zaman newspaper and at the Samanyolu broadcasting company, which are believed to be associated with the opposition Gulen movement..

It is reported that in addition to Dumanli, more than 20 unidentified people were detained.

It is also reported that on Dec.14, Turkey conducted operations within the actions against the supporters of Fethullah Gulen.

On February 25, several Turkish media outlets said the telephone conversations of over 7,000 people close to both the country`s ruling party and opposition parties, were wiretapped as part of an anti-terrorist operation against members of the Salam organization in 2011.

It was also reported that the telephone conversations of Turkish intelligence head, Hakan Fidan were also wiretapped under these anti-terrorist operations.

After this, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused representatives of the Gulen movement of being behind the wiretapping. Erdogan also stressed that the Gulen`s movement (which he earlier called as a “parallel structure”) with its anti-state activities proved that it is not a religious movement, but a politicized and illegal structure.

Earlier, the prime minister called on Fethullah Gulen, who is now residing in the US, not to intervene in Turkey`s internal affairs and accused the US of supporting him.

A criminal case has been initiated in Turkey against Fethullah Gulen for a coup attempt and espionage against Turkey.

Earlier, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Gulen would be extradited from the US. But the United States authorities stated that extradition of Gulen is unacceptable.

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