Turkey on Friday arrested 15 current and former Army officers and 28 teachers for alleged links with exiled cleric Fetullah Gulen, who the government believes plotted the failed coup attempt in July 2016, the Anadolu news agency reported. The police made the arrests after carrying out raids in nine provinces.

Twelve of the 16 military officers are currently serving. The police are still looking for one Army officer and 16 teachers.

The teachers allegedly were associated with schools that are part of Gulen’s network. Gulen is an Islamic preacher and has denied involvement in the coup attempt.

Since the attempted coup, Turkey has arrested 40,000 people and dismissed or suspended 1.2 lakh others from their posts as soldiers, police officers, teachers and public servants, suspecting that they have links with militant groups.

The coup and assassination attempt

A section of the country’s military had rebelled and tried to overthrow the government on July 16, 2016. Thousands of citizens as well as Army troops resisted the attempt, and more than 150 people were killed in the violence.

Turkey accuses Fetullah Gulen, who is currently in the United States, and his supporters of organising the coup.

Several teams of the Turkish forces had launched an operation at the hotel in Southwest Turkey where Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was staying on the night of the attempted coup. Hours later, he had appeared live on television and said he had escaped an assassination attempt.