A severely disabled man was among hundreds detained on Tuesday in a sweeping crackdown targeting real or perceived members of the faith-based Gülen movement, the TR724 news website reported.
The Izmir Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office issued detention warrants for 371 people nationwide, and authorities seized two major retail chains on the ninth anniversary of a coup attempt in 2016.
The retail chain owners face accusations of transferring donations and religious offerings to families of jailed or exiled supporters of the Gülen movement. Hundreds of additional suspects allegedly funneled money to movement followers by disguising the transfers as proceeds from food sales and aid packages.
Among those who were detained in connection with the donations was Ali Aki, a former teacher who could barely leave his house due to spinal displacement.
Aki, who lives in the southern province of Osmaniye, was taken in by police for questioning. According to media reports, he could barely walk due to severe spinal problems.
In an earlier interview, Aki said he was unable to work due to his health problems and relied on financial assistance and small donations to survive. Those donations were presented as evidence against him, alleging that he received “financial support” from the movement.
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 some of his family members and inner circle.
Dismissing the investigations as a Gülenist coup and a conspiracy against his government, Erdoğan began to target the movement’s members. He designated the movement as a terrorist organization in May 2016 and intensified the crackdown on it following the abortive putsch in July of the same year that he accused Gülen of masterminding. The movement strongly denies involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.
According to the latest figures from the Justice Ministry, more than 126,000 people have been convicted for alleged links to the movement since 2016, with 11,085 still in prison. Legal proceedings are ongoing for over 24,000 individuals, while another 58,000 remain under active investigation nearly a decade later.
