Police from the financial-crimes unit were conducting the operations to root out sympathisers of a religious movement led by Fethullah Gulen, a USA -based Islamic cleric the government has said masterminded the intervention, it said.
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Tens of thousands of troops, civil servants, judges and officials have been detained or dismissed in a massive purge that Western allies worry Erdogan is using to crack down on broader dissent, risking stability in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation partner. “The crimes committed after July 1, 2016 are outside its scope”, Bozdag said on Twitter.
“Where people work, mistakes can happen”, Dimroth said.
Gulen, formerly close to Erdogan but now living in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania, has denounced the coup attempt, and denied any responsibility for it.
In a similar operation on Tuesday, Turkish police raided dozens of companies in Istanbul in search of 120 suspects including CEOs.
Separately, a court ordered that 187 suspects’ assets be seized, according to Anadolu.
Turkey classified Gulen’s movement as a terrorist network in July 2015. The raids targeted major companies like ready-to-wear retailer Aydinli Group, bakery Gulluoglu Baklava and fashion company Eroglu Holding, Dogan said.
Last year, Eroglu had sales of 490 million lire, while Aydinli had revenues of 928 million lire ($317 million).
Earlier this week, the offices of a healthcare company, a technology company, and a retail chain, detaining its executives.
Wednesday’s decrees also allow the air force to hire new pilots or take back pilots who had resigned or were discharged before the coup to replace pilots who have been arrested or dismissed for alleged participation in the coup or links to Gulen.
Turkey is ordering the conditional release of some 38,000 prisoners in order to free up space for the thousands of people arrested in the aftermath of last month’s failed coup.
Turkey also wants other nations to crack down on Gulen-affiliated organisations, including schools and businesses.
During a meeting with representatives of the federation of non-governmental organizations in the Muslim world, Erdogan said that there is no difference between PKK, the so-called the Islamic State (Daesh) and the parallel state which has been charged by the Turkish government with being behind the foiled coup attempt in mid-July. Washington has said it would only do so if it has firm evidence.
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According to ARD, German officials also said that Erdoğan also supported the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas.
