Speaking live on a TV channel on Tuesday, Istanbul Public Prosecutor Mehmet Demir claimed that the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) has been cleared of Gülenist infiltration after the October HSYK elections, adding that the Gülen Movement has around 4,000 followers in the judicial bodies.

Despite the strong presence, the failure of the movement in the HSYK elections led the top judicial body to start investigations into the misconduct of the prosecutors and judges linked with the movement, Demir said.

Turkey needs to clear its apparatuses from the "cancer cells" caused by Gülenist infiltration, and judges and prosecutors should act together in purging the judiciary of the shadowy movement, said President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the Justice Academy held in February.

In striking comments regarding the current status of the judicial system in Turkey, Erdoğan said Gülenists, who allegedly infiltrated key state institutions in an apparent attempt to take over the state, had abused justice by exploiting the authority granted to them, and further accused the infiltrators of betraying the country and the nation.

"There is a thin line between justice and cruelty. When the fact that those who are tasked with maintaining justice act on the orders of some organizations instead of their conscious, the situation can be highly alarming," Erdoğan said, alluding to the judicial members of the Gülen Movement, who allegedly carried out the December 17 and December 25 operations, in which high-level government officials were detained. The operations have been deemed an attempt to topple the elected government.

After the operations, Erdoğan, along with other prominent government officials, launched a war against the Gülen Movement, which faced further accusations varying from carrying out illegal wiretappings to spying. The government officials rolled up their sleeves to weed out the infiltrators, who they stigmatized as "traitors." Denying all kinds of tutelage in the state's bodies, the ruling party began with eliminating the power that the Gülenists had in the judiciary, which made it possible for them to conduct any kind of operations against those who considered the group a threat.