İstanbul Mayor’s son-in-law Kavurmacı and ex-police chief Çapkın re-detained over alleged Gülen links

Ömer Faruk Kavurmacı

Following an arrest warrant issued by an İstanbul court on Friday İstanbul Mayor Kadir Topbaş’s son-in-law Ömer Faruk Kavurmacı was detained on late in the same day in İstanbul.

Kavurmacı had been arrested as part of Turkish government’s massive post-coup witch hunt campaign targeting the alleged members of the Gülen movement. Kavurmacı was detained during a police operation against the Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON), which was affiliated with the Gülen movement.

He was released by the İstanbul 5th Criminal Court of Peace on May 4, 2017 on the grounds that prison conditions were having a negative effect on the suspect, who was diagnosed with epilepsy in 2005. However, the court accepted the indictment against TUSKON regarding 86 suspects on Friday and issued the arrest warrant for Kavurmacı.

Separately, the İstanbul 30th High Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for former İstanbul police chief Hüseyin Çapkın and former Denizli Governor Abdülkadir Demir over their alleged links to the Gülen movement. Çapkın went to İstanbul Police Department together with his lawyer on Friday night to surrender.

The 309-page indictment accepted by the court on Firday sought three aggravated life imprisonments for 15 suspects, including Çapkın and former İstanbul Governor Hüseyin Avni Mutlu, over their alleged links to the Gülen movement. Thirteen people have been already been jailed in the same witch hunt probe. The first hearing will be held on Aug. 23 at a court in Silivri Prison.

They had been charged over “violation of the constitution,” “attempt to destroy the Turkish Republic and the Turkish parliament by using physical violence” and “membership to a terrorist organization.”  Çapkın was previously arrested in September 2016 but released two months later.

Meanwhile, 2nd High Criminal Court in Kars province has decided to arrest Provincal Gendarmeri Commander Col. Serdar Güngör and Major Ömer Talay on Friday with charge of involvement into controversial coup attempt on July 15, 2016.

Also on Friday, 9 out of 20 people who were detained on Thursday were arrested by a court in Afyonkarahisar province over their alleged links to the Gülen movement. 11 people were released by the court with judicial probe. Afyonkarahisar Chief Prosecutor Office had issued arrest warrant for 30 people and 17 of them were detained by police on Thursday.

A controversial military coup attempt on July 15 killed over 240 people. Immediately after the putsch, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government along with Turkey’s autocratic President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement.

Fethullah Gülen, who inspired the movement, strongly denied having any role in the failed coup and called for an international investigation into it, but President Erdoğan — calling the coup attempt “a gift from God” — and the government initiated a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting them in custody.

At least 161,751 people were detained or investigated and 50,334 people were arrested in Turkey in the framework of the Turkish government’s massive post-coup witch hunt campaign targeting alleged members of the Gülen movement since the controversial coup attempt on July 15, 2016, according to statistics reported by state-run Anadolu news agency by basing on information taken from the officials from Turkey’s Justice Minsitry on June 13.

June 17, 2017

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