Dozens of Turkish academics held

Turkey yesterday detained dozens of academics suspected of backing Fethullah Gulen, the alleged mastermind of last month's failed coup, while pressing ahead with raids on businesses linked to the US-based Muslim preacher.

Turkish prosecutors have issued arrest warrants for 84 academics nationwide, the private Dogan news agency reported, while the state-run Anadolu agency said Istanbul authorities were separately hunting 62 academics from the city's main university.

A total of 74 scholars had been detained so far in both operations, media said.

A large majority of the suspects in the nationwide raids were from Selcuk University in Konya, central Anatolia -- a conservative bastion of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) -- including the university's former rector, Professor Hakki Gokbel.

To the alarm of its Western partners, Turkey has pressed ahead with a vast crackdown on alleged coup plotters in the wake of July 15 military action seeking to oust President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from power.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said this week that more than 40,000 state employees had been detained in the purge, with more than 20,000 remanded in custody.

More than 5,000 civil servants have been dismissed and almost 80,000 others suspended, he added.

Gulen, a former Erdogan ally, has a powerful network of influence in institutions such as the judiciary and police and has long been accused of running a "parallel state" in Turkey.