More than 9,000 police officers have been suspended by the Turkish government for alleged links to the network of a US-based Islamist cleric, who Ankara says orchestrated last year's failed coup.
The personnel were stood down on Wednesday for their connections with the "terrorist organisation of Fethullah Gulen", the General Security Directorate said.
Emergency powers were granted to the government after the failed coup in July, allowing Ankara to take exceptional measures to guarantee security.
Some 2,500 of the suspended police officers are in Istanbul, another 1,350 in Ankara and the rest in other provinces around the country.
It comes a few hours after at least 1,120 people - most of them police officers or other security agents - were arrested for alleged links to the cleric's network.
Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said the arrests were an important step in "uncovering and destroying a structure that has infiltrated our security directorate".
Gulen, who has been living in self-imposed exile in the US, has denied any connection with the coup.
He was until 2013 a close ally of the Islamist Justice and Development Party which has governed Turkey since 2002.
But differences in strategy and power struggles resulted in Gulen forces and the AKP falling out.
Turkish police have arrested more than 110,000 people for supporting Gulen after the coup.
More than 40,000 people are awaiting trial behind bars including 10,000 police, 7,000 soldiers and 168 generals, as well as 2,000 judges and prosecutors, the Turkish Interior Ministry reported in early April.
The Turkish government has also fired by decree some 140,000 public employees for alleged links to the Islamist organisation.
