Police first detained a group of low-ranking veterans and members of a criminal organisation, but the operation expanded to include hard-line nationalist and secular politicians, journalists and other suspects, after Turkey's chief prosecutor asked the Constitutional Court to shut down the ruling AKP, on the grounds that it was undermining Turkey's secular system.
Policija je prvo privela grupu veterana nižeg ranga i članove kriminalne organizacije, ali se operacija proširila i njome su obuhvaćeni i tvrdokorni nacionalistički i sekularni političari, novinari i drugi osumnjičeni, nakon što je glavni tužilac Turske zatražio od Ustavnog suda da zatvori vladajuću AKP, na osnovu toga da podriva sekularni sistem Turske.