Turkish police on Tuesday launched simultaneous operations against 44 companies in Istanbul over their suspected links to a failed military coup attempt last month, Turkish media reported.
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Western officials are concerned the purge will impact stability in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member and a key partner in their war on Daesh (the so-called IS) in neighboring Iraq and Syria.
“We have started to receive some positive signals on the calls we have made”, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters in Ankara, saying further documents relating to the case for Gulen’s deportation were being drawn up to send to Washington.
PKK is listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, US and the EU.
Private businesses have also been targeted in what the government describes as a crackdown on followers of Fethullah Gulen, a cleric based in self-imposed exile in the United States, who is blamed by Turkey for the coup. Turkey’s state-run news agency says police teams are c.
Gulen is also accused of conducting a long-running campaign to overthrow the Turkish government through the infiltration of state institutions – especially the military, police and judiciary – with the aim of creating a “parallel state”.
Erdogan’s critics say he could use the purge to crack down broadly on dissent.
Former Turkish Airlines Chief Financial Officer Coskun Kilic said he’s suing to be reinstated to the job following a “completely unfair” mass firing at the carrier last month that was part of a government purge against alleged coup plotters.
In another arrest, a prosecutor in eastern Turkey, who had been suspended under the coup investigation, was detained as he tried to cross the border into Syria on Sunday night, a Turkish government official said.
Police had detention warrants for 83 people at the court, Anadolu reported.
“In recent weeks, runaway operatives that successfully reached Iraq have been accompanied by PKK elements on the ground”, the officer said.
Ankara has accused him of orchestrating the July 15 coup. They were flown to Istanbul for questioning.
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It was not clear how many suspects had been detained in the raids.
