Turkey has arrested more than 35,000 people over alleged links to the group run by the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, who is blamed for the failed July coup, local media reported.

Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said the suspects had been placed under arrest since the attempted putsch that fell apart within hours, quoted by NTV broadcaster.

Another 3,907 suspects were still being sought while nearly 26,000 people had been released into “judicial control”, he said according to the Guardian on Sunday.

Some 82,000 individuals had been interrogated in total since the coup bid, he told the audience at a ruling Justice and Development Party conference in Afyonkarahisar, western Turkey.

Ankara accuses Gulen of masterminding the coup, during which a rogue military faction tried to oust President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Source: MENA