Companies in eastern Istanbul, including major Turkish businesses such as technology company Akfa Holding and the A101 supermarket chain, were visited by police, and at least 51 people, including Akfa CEO Fatih Aktas, were arrested.
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The prime minister’s comments marked a change in tone after Erdogan said earlier this month that if the Turkish public wanted a return to capital punishment, then political parties would follow their will.
Gulen, who lives in the United States, has denied having anything to do with the attempted coup.
On Friday, the Turkish diplomat said a US Justice Department delegation overseeing the request to extradite Gulen was expected to arrive in Turkey on August 22, and hold talks with Turkish counterparts the following two days. Parliament was bombed, while President Recep Tayyip Erdogan escaped an attack on his hotel at a seaside resort during the foiled coup.
But in a step back from threats to reintroduce the death penalty after the coup that sparked tensions with the EU, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said a fair trial would represent a harsher punishment for coup plotters than execution.
In the more than 2,500-page indictment accepted by the court in Usak on Tuesday, Gulen and 111 other suspects are accused of transferring funds obtained through charities or donations to the United States via “front” companies, Anadolu said. “Death penalty is death for one time”.
The Anadolu Agency said arrest warrants were issued for a total of 120 company executives accused of providing financial support to Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen who lives in self-imposed exile in the United States.
“Those responsible for the blood of our martyrs will be brought to account. That is an impartial and fair trial”.
Turkey declared a three-month state of emergency after the coup and the sheer magnitude of the crackdown prompted worries among its European Union partners of a witch-hunt.
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) – Turkey’s state-run news agency says police have launched simultaneous raids on 44 companies suspected of providing financial support to USA -based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen’s movement.
The purge comes after about 240 people died in the military coup attempt in July. Gulen strongly denies the accusations.
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Since July 15, Turkey’s crackdown on his supporters has intensified with tens of thousands of people from the military, judiciary, civil service and education sector dismissed from their jobs or detained.
