Top Gulenist suspect dies of heart attack in Turkey jail: report

A former Turkish police intelligence chief arrested on charges of links to the Muslim preacher blamed for the failed 2016 coup has died of a heart attack in jail, state media reported today.

Zeki Guven, who was arrested last month in the wake of the attempted putsch aimed at unseating President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, died in his prison cell at Sincan on the outskirts of Ankara yesterday, the official Anadolu news agency said.

Guven, 48, the former intelligence chief of the Ankara Police Department, belonged to a Gulenist faction named "golden children", Anadolu reported.

He was among tens of thousands of people including soldiers, prosecutors and police officers who have been arrested in Turkey over suspected links to exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen, who has strongly denied the charges of links to the July 2016 coup bid.

Guven's notoriety stemmed from accusations he played a key role in a scandal that brought down the longstanding leader of the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), Deniz Baykal, in 2010.

The married Baykal stepped down in 2010 after a video circulated on the internet purportedly showing him conducting an affair with a married female MP from his party.

Guven was one of 171 suspects in a trial accused of leaking private images of politicians including Baykal.

Guven and his wife Sevda, a former judge, were placed under arrest last month after being detained at a shopping mall in the western city of Eskisehir, Anadolu reported.

Gulen's group, outlawed as terror organisation by Turkey, has repeatedly raised questions over the deaths of dozens of suspects in jail including by suicide. But the Turkish authorities insist all prisoners are given access to proper care. In the latest wave of arrests, Turkey issued arrest warrants for 68 members of the ground forces army command on suspicion of links to Gulen.