On the ninth anniversary of a 2016 coup attempt in Turkey, the Turkish government has intensified its crackdown on real or perceived members of the faith-based Gülen movement, launching multiple operations that include detention warrants for more than 400 people and the seizure of two major retail chains, Turkish Minute reported.
The latest crackdown was coordinated by Turkish intelligence and the police, with raids taking place across the country on a day when the government is holding ceremonies to commemorate victims of the attempted coup who took to the streets after a call from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on the night of July 15, 2016.
More than 250 people died during the events of that night, which the government claimed was an attempt by military officers to overthrow Erdoğan’s government.
Erdoğan immediately accused the faith-based Gülen movement, led by Muslim preacher Fethullah Gülen, of orchestrating the abortive putsch. He had already been targeting the movement since corruption investigations in late 2013 that implicated his inner circle.
Gülen, who lived in self-imposed exile in the United States until his death in October 2024, strongly denied any involvement in the corruption investigations and the coup attempt and called for an independent international investigation into the coup, a demand that was never met.
Although nine years have passed, the Turkish government is continuing its crackdown, not only on the people who were allegedly directly involved in the coup attempt but also on the wider circle of the Gülen movement.
Retail chains seized, dozens detained
As part of the ongoing crackdown, the government has seized two İstanbul-based retail brands, Hakmar, a popular discount supermarket chain with around 800 branches across Turkey, and Tatbak, a pastry company with around 80 branches in İstanbul. Turkey’s Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) has been authorized to run the operations and the management of these companies, which are accused of funneling money to the Gülen movement.
İstanbul prosecutors issued detention warrants for 26 people as part of the investigation across nine provinces.
Zeki Doruk, the owner of both chains, along with a former police officer identified only by the initials C.G. who had been previously removed from public service in government-led purges following the coup attempt, were detained on Tuesday along with 24 other suspects.
Financial aid as evidence of terrorism
Prosecutors allege that the two oversaw financial operations involving the transfer of donations and religious offerings to families of jailed or exiled Gülen sympathizers.
Doruk is also accused of employing individuals in his companies who had previously been investigated for or convicted of Gülen movement ties and regularly transferring money to members of the movement based on alleged instructions from exiled leadership abroad. His associate, C.G., reportedly operated under Doruk’s orders, traveling across Turkey to distribute financial aid to former civil servants dismissed by government decree and their families.
Following the coup attempt, the government declared a state of emergency and ruled by decree for two years. During this period more than 130,000 civil servants and some 24,000 members of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) were summarily dismissed from their jobs by executive orders not subject to judicial or parliamentary oversight.
Dismissed civil servants were not only removed from public office but also blacklisted from future employment in both the public and private sectors. Restrictions were placed on their ability to obtain passports, and digital notations in the national social security database discouraged private employers from hiring them. Many of those affected faced lifelong economic and social hardship without legal recourse.
Massive operation across 60 provinces
In a separate operation based in the western province of İzmir, prosecutors ordered the detention of 371 people across 60 provinces on accusations of financing the Gülen movement. Police have detained at least 231 suspects.
Prosecutors allege that suspects funneled money to followers of the movement by disguising it as proceeds from food sales and aid packages.
According to Turkish officials, the funds were collected under the pretense of domestic and international food shipments and then distributed to imprisoned movement members or those in exile. Data from the Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) reportedly showed approximately 7.5 million Turkish lira (about $230,000) in suspicious transactions, involving suspects in Turkey and abroad, including the United States and several European countries.
Seventy-nine of the suspects are believed to be outside Turkey, and police are continuing efforts to locate the remaining 61.
Prosecutors say the scheme was initially identified through surveillance of a suspect previously arrested during a separate investigation into Gülen-linked online food sellers in İzmir.
Police academy targeted
In another operation tied to earlier investigations, prosecutors in Ankara issued detention warrants for 14 people suspected of receiving leaked questions on entrance exams for the now-defunct police academy in 2010 and 2011. Prosecutors claim these individuals benefited from prior access to the test material. The suspects are being pursued in seven provinces.
The Turkish government in 2015 closed police academies and vocational training schools as part of efforts to purge followers of the Gülen movement from state institutions after it was shaken by the corruption investigations in late 2013, blamed on Gülen followers in the police force.
The government’s targeting of the police academies and the cheating allegations are widely seen as a move and pretext to purge non-loyalist officers from the police force and replace them with government cronies.
According to data from the police’s counterterrorism department, as reported by the state-run Anadolu news agency on Monday, a total of 390,354 people have been detained on charges broadly categorized under terrorism or coup-related offenses since the coup attempt. Of these, 113,837 have been arrested.
Human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have repeatedly criticized the post-coup crackdown for undermining due process, suppressing dissent and targeting a religious group without credible evidence of wrongdoing. Despite these warnings, the purges and prosecutions continue nearly a decade later.
