Police have raided 44 companies in Istanbul as part of Turkey's post-coup crackdown. Officers had warrants to detain 120 executives, state media report.
Turkey's state-run news agency reported Tuesday that police have launched simultaneous raids on 44 yet-to-be-identified companies accused of providing financial support to the movement led by the US-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen. Police began searches in the Uskudar and Umraniye districts of Istanbul, including buildings belonging to an unnamed holding company, the Anadolu agency reported.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan alleges Gulen has built a network of schools, charities and businesses in Turkey and abroad over the decades in order to infiltrate the state and create a "parallel structure" with which to take over the country.
On Monday, police cited the coup investigation in raiding the main courthouse on the Asian side of Istanbul, searching offices there and detaining 83 judicial personnel, Anadolu reported. A day earlier, police had detained at least 136 court staff in raids on three halls of justice, including Turkey's largest courthouse, on the European side of the city.
Police also took a former lawmaker for the ruling Justice and Development Party, which Erdogan founded, and seven academics in the Black Sea city of Trazbon into custody, Anadolu reported.
mkg/se (Reuters, AFP, AP)