Turkey detains 44 people linked to U.S.-based Muslim cleric

The government has cracked down on followers of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen since 2013, when prosecutors launched corruption probes into people close to Mr. Erdogan.

Supporters of Gulen movement wave Turkish flags during a protest outside the Kanalturk and Bugun TV building in Istanbul, Turkey, October 28, 2015.

Turkey’s state-run news agency says police have carried out raids in 18 provinces, detaining 44 people linked to a moderate Islamic movement that has turned into President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Number 1 foe.

The Anadolu Agency says those detained in Tuesday’s raids include regional administrators and former police chiefs suspected of acting “beyond their legal authority.”

The raids come two days after the ruling party, which Mr. Erdogan founded, won a resounding victory in an election Sunday that restored its single-party rule.

The government has cracked down on followers of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen since 2013, when prosecutors launched corruption probes into people close to Mr. Erdogan. Mr. Erdogan alleges that the corruption probes were part of an attempted coup. Prosecutors have labelled the movement a terrorist organisation.