The chief prosecutor of Istanbul has issued orders for the confiscation of properties of 187 Fetullah Terror Organization (FETO) suspects, the prosecutor’s office announced Thursday.
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Around two hundred people have been detained and their assets seized while they are investigated for their “apparent” connection with the military rebellion.
Since the July 15 coup attempt, Erdogan has issued an attack against tens of thousand of citizens, including those who work in education, military, judiciary, media, local government and healthcare sectors.
The companies were accused of offering financial support to USA -based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen and the movement he leads, the Hurriyet daily said.
Turkey has so far detained around 40,000 people in its investigation following the attempted putsch, which it blames on followers of USA -based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who has denied the charge.
Many Western allies worry that Erdogan is giving himself, even more, power, and is using the coup as an excuse to crush dissidence. TV channel CNN Turk said 60 people were detained.
Police launched a vast operation in the country’s economic capital Istanbul and other provinces into the alleged Gulen-linked companies – the biggest crackdown on business since the July 15 failed putsch, the Anadolu news agency reported.
Gulen, a reclusive cleric who has lived in self-exile in the United States since 1999, has been repeatedly accused of running a “parallel state” since a corruption scandal embroiling then premier Erdogan and several of his ministers erupted in 2013.
No one answered calls to Aydinli, which had sales of 928 million lira ($317 million) in 2015, nor to Eroglu, which reported revenue of 490 million lira previous year.
Gulen, a former Erdogan ally, has a powerful network of influence in institutions such as the judiciary and police as well as the media and has always been accused of running a “parallel state” in Turkey.
Turkey authorities said 4,262 companies and institutions with links to Gulen had been shut.
In an interview with the German business magazine “Wirtschaftswoche”, Turkish EU Minister Omer Celik called on the German government to “ban companies and organizations which are close to the (Gulen) movement”.
Eroglu representatives have denied any connection to Gulen, Gulluoglu, a baklava maker.
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Washington has asked for evidence of Gulen’s involvement and says the regular extradition process must take its course. He also said the government is considering an extraordinary meeting of the Supreme Military Council this month as it plans an overhaul of the military to expand civilian control over Turkey’s armed forces, which have toppled three governments since 1960.
