Turkish authorities have sealed the Ankara headquarters and three local offices of the anti-government Furkan Foundation, a religious group, over allegations of operating unauthorized social facilities, Turkish Minute reported on Tuesday.
The Ankara Directorate of Foundations accused the Furkan Education and Research Association, affiliated with the Furkan Foundation, which is led by outspoken Islamic preacher Alparslan Kuytul, of running unlicensed social venues in the Sincan, Şentepe and Ulus districts. Authorities imposed a fine and ordered the closure of four locations, including the group’s headquarters in Ankara.
The decision prompted clashes between police and supporters of the foundation, who had gathered in front of the headquarters to protest. After the offices were sealed, the group marched to Ankara’s Victory Monument in Ulus, continuing their demonstration under police watch.
Speaking in front of the monument, Kuytul condemned the closures as politically motivated. “This decision, justified on the pretense of unauthorized social premises and alleged alcohol consumption, is nothing more than a cover to deceive the public. Everyone knows there’s no possibility of alcohol being consumed at any premises affiliated with the Furkan movement,” he said.
Kuytul described the closure orders as “arbitrary, politically motivated and ill-intentioned.”
The Furkan Foundation has faced similar crackdowns in various provinces in recent years, with members frequently describing these measures as part of a broader government campaign against dissenting religious voices.
Kuytul, a vocal critic of the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has a history of imprisonment and prosecution. In June 2023 he was released from pretrial detention under judicial supervision after being arrested in connection with the abduction of a businessman in Adana. He faced charges including instigating the deprivation of liberty, extortion, bodily harm and torture — allegations he dismissed as politically motivated.
In 2018 Kuytul was jailed for criticizing Turkey’s military intervention in northern Syria and opposing the government’s offensive in Afrin. Though acquitted in 2020, Furkan members have continued to face police raids and administrative sanctions.
Kuytul has long claimed that he is being targeted by the government over his outspoken criticism of the Erdoğan administration. He has also said he was persecuted for condemning Erdoğan’s crackdown on the Gülen movement, a faith-based group inspired by the late Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen. The government pinned the blame for a failed 2016 coup on the movement, which denies any involvement. Critics accuse Erdoğan of using the coup attempt as a pretext to suppress dissent.
