Turkish authorities suspended more than 12,000 police officers over alleged links to Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen accused of masterminding the July failed coup, the police headquarters said on Tuesday.

Of the 12,801 suspended from duty as part of the investigation into the coup attempt, 2,523 were police chiefs, the police authorities said in a statement. They were suspended over suspected links to the Gulen movement whom Turkey blames for the attempted putsch.