Turkish authorities have detained 353 people for alleged links to the faith-based Gülen movement, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced Friday on X.
Yerlikaya said the suspects were detained in simultaneous police operations on Thursday across 31 provinces including Antalya, Ankara Bursa and Istanbul. Among the detainees were 10 civil servants.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been targeting followers of the Gülen movement, inspired by the late Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, since corruption investigations revealed in 2013 implicated then-prime minister Erdoğan as well as members of his family and inner circle.
Dismissing the investigations as a Gülenist coup and conspiracy against his government, Erdoğan designated the movement as a terrorist organization and began pursuing its followers. He intensified the crackdown on the movement following an abortive putsch in 2016, which he accused Gülen of masterminding. Gülen and the movement strongly deny involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.
The suspects were accused of financing the movement through Maydonoz Döner, a chain of döner restaurants. Yerlikaya claimed the restaurant supported the movement by offering unofficial partnerships to individuals linked to the group and using its locations as meeting spaces.
Maydonoz Döner is a franchise restaurant chain with branches in Turkey and several European countries.
Since the coup attempt, at least 705,172 people have been investigated on terrorism or coup-related charges due to their alleged links to the movement. There are currently at least 13,251 people in prison as a result of pretrial detention or convictions related to terrorism in Gülen-linked trials.
