Turkish government launches total cleanse after attempted coup

Turkey has begun a purge of soldiers and judiciary officials allegedly connected to an effort to topple the government, one day after a failed military coup attempt.

By Saturday evening, the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had detained 2,839 military personnel, with a number of arrests expected to rise, according to Prime Minister Binali Yildirim.

Turkey’s top judicial body, the HSYK, dismissed 2,745 judges on Saturday, according to Turkey’s Anadolu news agency.

Additionally, a senior Turkish official told Al Jazeera that at least two judges from Turkey’s constitutional court and 10 judges from the HSYK had been detained.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said that the judges were detained based on “financial transactions and communications between the individuals in question and the putschists”, but added that detention did not necessarily mean a conviction.

Another senior official, also speaking anonymously, told Al Jazeera that a top army general was also detained over his alleged involvement.

“General Erdal Ozturk, the commander of the Third Army, has been detained,” he said.

“Our sense is that the would-be junta had made preparations for some time. They had determined which military officers would take over as governors, heads of government agencies … but they were forced to rush due to the upcoming Supreme Military Council meeting,” he added.

The coup attempt began at around 19:30GMT on Friday with the partial closure by troops of two major bridges over the Bosphorus in Istanbul.

“Their immediate goal was to seize control of key areas like the Bosphorus Bridge or Taksim Square. In Ankara, they tried to storm the Presidential Palace, the Prime [Minister’s office], the National Intelligence Organization and the Parliament. They also attempted to take down the satellite infrastructure and, in some areas, seized control of telecommunications hubs.”

Another official told the Associated Press news agency that Ozturk was one of the “masterminds of the coup”.