ISTANBUL
Authorities have taken into custody 29 police officers, including senior officials, in an operation launched across Turkey in an ongoing "parallel state" probe.
The Istanbul-based operation, which began early Monday, saw detentions take place in nearly 20 Turkish provinces.
The suspects, including former vice-head of Istanbul Security Department and chief of Istanbul Organized Crime Control Bureau, were charged with wiretapping espionage, violation of privacy, storing personal data in violation of the law, forgery of official documents.
The "parallel state" is an alleged group of Turkish bureaucrats and senior officials embedded in the country's institutions, including the judiciary and the police, which is allegedly trying to undermine the Turkish government.
The government alleges that the clandestine network is run by the U.S.-based preacher Fetullah Gulen and that his so-called Gulen movement is responsible for masterminding a plot to overthrow the elected Turkish government.
Turkey wants Gulen to be extradited from the U.S., where he lives since 1999. An Istanbul criminal court issued an arrest warrant for Gulen as part of a probe into the parallel state operation
