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Turkish diplomats swept up in wave of arrests report torture

Evidence is piling up that many of the dozens of former Turkish diplomats recently rounded up and jailed were tortured, and the timing of the crackdown has raised speculation that the government is attempting to intimidate purged officials.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan talks to media after the Eid al-Fitr prayers to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan in Istanbul, Turkey, June 4, 2019. REUTERS/Murad Sezer - RC13F54A8DE0

At least 27 former Turkish diplomats, including one woman, have been arrested as suspects in an alleged conspiracy amid mounting evidence that many of them were tortured and threatened with rape.

The arrests follow the mass detention on May 20 of around 110 former diplomats accused of cheating on the Foreign Ministry’s entrance exams with help from an Islamic fraternity that used to be allied with the government and is now classified as a terror organization known as the "Fethullah Gulen Terror Organization" or FETO.

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