Demonstrations under investigation at Koza İpek's media building

The Istanbul Chief Prosecutor's Office has launched an investigation into the protests that were staged in front of Koza İpek Holding's media group headquarters in Istanbul on the grounds of the appointment of trustees to the conglomerate's subsidiaries. Protesters are charged with resisting officers, preventing officers from performing their duty and inciting to commit crime.

At the request of the Ankara Public Prosecutor's Office, the Ankara 5th Criminal Court of Peace decided Monday to assign trustees to administer Koza İpek Holding and its affiliate companies, which are alleged to have links with the Gülenist Terror Organization (FETÖ). Protests began in front of the media company and trustees were blocked from doing their jobs. Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA), Ümit Önal, one of the trustees, said six trustees were in the media group's building, but they were prevented from doing their jobs. Önal said there were many cameras all around the building to create an image of trustees interfering in the media and was planning to cut the broadcast. Önal said the main aim was to force trustees to make an allegation of not being able to do their jobs so police would become involved and they would go on live through the cameras all around the building. In this way, Önal said, Koza İpek's media group would be able claim that there was media intervention by force. The media group involves TV channels, Kanaltürk and Bugün TV, and newspapers Bugün and Millet.

According to the experts' report, following the assignment of fully-authorized trustees to 22 subsidiaries of Koza Holding, the conglomerate has been found to have a seemingly legal structure that launders money through an international method known as "Smurfs." This method includes hierarchical structuring and division of labor among employees. The Koza İpek Group has been found to inflate its production and efficiency, particularly in gold mining, change stock values and generate extraordinary amounts of money that pretends to be obtained through legal activities. The conglomerate then moves this illicit money into a system under the guise of donations and charities through foundations established by the same partners.

Koza İpek Holding also inflated production and productivity amounts, especially in its gold operations. It had changed stock values, which resulted in the accumulation of extreme amounts that appear to have been gained through legal operations. Furthermore, such amounts were directed to foundations and other nongovernmental organizations established by the same partners that were allegedly for "donations and aid," which made such payments appear as legal monetary transactions.

The holding is suspected of providing financial support and distributing FETÖ propaganda of, which is led by the U.S.-based Turkish fugitive imam Fethullah Gülen who lives in self-imposed exile in rural Pennsylvania.

The experts' report, which said such transfers are another type of money laundering scheme, also stressed that the funds were collected at nongovernmental organizations to which easier and less strict auditing rules apply, Moreover, since how and what such funds were spend on could not be determined, a grey economic area appeared due to such donations' inability to be controlled or audited.

Experts provided details about this type of money laundering scheme, stressing: "As everything in Smurf Village is small and every person has their own title and duties, in this type of money laundering, duties have been distributed among institutions and individuals; therefore, everyone believed they were performing legal duties. Yet this type of organization is set up solely for money laundering, and while it can be detected as these units are linked internally, they appear separate on the outside." The Gülen Terror Organization is accused of conspiring against the state, wiretapping thousands of people including government officials and encrypting phones. The organization has been labeled a threat against the country's national security. According to Turkish law no: 6415, as part of the United Nations Security Council's regulation regarding the prevention of financing terrorism, providing financial support to a terrorist organization is a crime; thus, operations can accordingly take place and assets frozen.