11 Arrested In 'Parallel State' Sweep In Turkey

Eleven people have been arrested as part of Turkey's 'parallel state' probe into alleged espionage and illegal wiretapping, Anadolu Agency reported.



Istanbul Judge Islam Cicek ordered the arrests of 11 police officers on Tuesday night.



The arrested officers include Yurt Atayun, former chief of Istanbul's anti-terror police department.



The court ordered conditional release for eight suspects and released 30 others.



The court action followed two high-profile, Istanbul-based anti-graft operations, which were launched in December 2013 and led to the arrest of high-profile figures including the sons of three government ministers as well as several entrepreneurs.



All those detained in the December probes were later released pending trial.



The Turkish government has denounced the December probes as a "dirty plot" constructed by a "parallel structure" group of bureaucrats embedded within the country's key institutions, including the judiciary branch and the police.