Turkish gov’t liquidates 6 companies seized from businessman over Gülen links

Six companies of Dumankaya Holding, which was seized by Turkish government under the state of emergency declared in the aftermath of a controversial coup attempt on July 15, 2016 over alleged affiliations of its owners to the Gülen movement, are planning to be liquidated.

According to a statement made by state-run Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) on Tuesday, the companies to be liquidated are as follows: Dumankaya Dış Ticaret ve Pazarlama; Dumankaya Holding; Dumankaya Kentsel Dönüşüm Proje Geliştirme; Dumankaya ve Mazaya İnşaat; Show Oto Sanayi ve Ticaret; and Dumankaya Teknoloji.

The liquidation doesn’t concern Dumankaya’s flagship construction firm. TMSF earlier said that the agency is in talks with a German company to complete Dumankaya’s now-halted construction projects.

The government detained more than 160,000 people and jailed some 60,000 since the summer of 2016. Meanwhile, nearly 1,100 companies, among them Dumankaya Holding, with a total value of $12 billion in assets have been seized and then transferred to the TMSF. The companies in question were mostly targeted as part of the government crackdown against the Gülen movement.

Just over a month after the controversial coup in 2016, an İstanbul court ordered the seizure of the assets of prominent businessman Halit Dumankaya, an executive board member of Dumankaya Holding, and five others over alleged links to the Gülen movement.

Turkey survived a controversial military coup attempt on July 15, 2016 that killed 249 people. Immediately after the putsch, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government along with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement.

Fethullah Gülen, who inspired the movement, strongly denied having any role in the failed coup and called for an international investigation into it, but President Erdoğan — calling the coup attempt “a gift from God” — and the government initiated a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting them in custody.

Turkey has suspended or dismissed more than 150,000 judges, teachers, police and civil servants since July 15. On December 13, 2017 the Justice Ministry announced that 169,013 people have been the subject of legal proceedings on coup charges since the failed coup.

Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu announced on April 18, 2018 that the Turkish government had jailed 77,081 people between July 15, 2016 and April 11, 2018 over alleged links to the Gülen movement. (SCF with turkeypurge.com)

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from Stockholm Center for Freedom https://stockholmcf.org/turkish-govt-liquidates-6-companies-seized-from-critical-businessman/