The Public Prosecutor of Istanbul has launched an investigation into the head of Türkiye's leading business group, media reported on Wednesday, the same day President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused the association of attempting to influence the judiciary.
The probe targeting Orhan Turan, chair of the Turkish Industry and Business Association (TÜSIAD), also accused him of "spreading misleading information," the Anadolu Agency (AA) reported.
The group has already been under fire over remarks by another TÜSIAD executive, Ömer Aras, who last week said judicial investigations into opposition leaders on charges of corruption had "shaken trust and damaged democracy."
Aras, who is the chair of QNB's Turkish banking unit, is being investigated for his remarks.
TÜSIAD's members account for 85% of Türkiye's foreign trade and 80% of corporate tax revenue.
The group's notorious statements drew the ire of Erdoğan, who on Wednesday vowed not to tolerate conspiracies of the association.
Erdoğan accused TÜSIAD of meddling in politics and undermining the government, noting it had "overstepped" and dismissed it as a remnant of the past that had thrived on economic privilege and political influence.
He stressed everyone should tolerate criticism in democracies and they'd never ignore consistent criticism. "But I would like to remind you that the mindset TÜSIAD adopted is of a bygone era," he told a parliamentary meeting of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) in Ankara.
"TÜSIAD's mentality is a symbol of weak governments in Türkiye's past (and it is) full of businessmen who have grown under the shadow of unfair profits and privileges at the expense of the nation," he said.
"They once dictated politics through newspaper headlines. We put an end to that. We did not recognize any power above the will of the people," he added, accusing the group of fueling political instability and attempting to pressure the government.
Aras had listed investigations into mayors charged with links to terrorists and corrupt businesspeople and an investigation into far-right party leader Ümit Özdağ, as well as the arrest of a prominent talent manager for celebrities over links to notorious Gezi Park riots in 2013.
None of those investigations have concluded, but prosecutors cite strong evidence that is sufficient to keep them in custody before their trials.
Media outlets linked the latest probe to a speech Turan made on Feb. 13 when he said Türkiye cannot solve problems at home and abroad without restoring the rule of law. He criticized legal action taken against journalists and the removal of mayors.
On Wednesday, Istanbul's prosecutors' office cited his statements as "misleading and disruptive to public order."
The office said Aras and Turhan were under investigation for "attempting to influence a fair trial" and "publicly spreading misleading information" and that authorities had ordered them to appear for questioning.
Erdoğan said his government has raised per-capita income, built roads and spread prosperity since coming to power more than two decades ago.
"As long as we are in power, no one will bring back the old system where a handful of elites siphoned off state resources," he stressed.
TÜSIAD was founded in 1971, one month after a controversial military memorandum to the government that is viewed as a coup. As the memorandum forced Prime Minister Süleyman Demirel out of office and led to the closure of the National Order Party of Necmettin Erbakan, political mentor of Erdoğan, the business body brought together 12 of the richest people in the country, whose goal was "to help Türkiye to reach the level of Western civilizations through democratic and planned development," according to its charter.
The 1970s was a time of political turmoil, and the coup (as the coup's leaders intended) failed to stop it.
It was a time of rising opposition to the private sector. Yet, the TÜSIAD moved forward. In 1979, it first attempted "the conspiracy" Erdoğan referred to on Wednesday. Taking out full-page ads in national newspapers, TÜSIAD targeted the government led by Bülent Ecevit of the Democratic Left Party (DSP). It instructed the government to correct the economic issues it blamed on corruption. The ads lashed out at "extreme intervention" in the economy by the government and called for the flow of foreign capital.
Ecevit was the first leader to openly hit out at TÜSIAD, accusing it of attempting "to kill the government" and branding the moves a threat to the government via an "ultimatum." But the government ultimately "died" with the 1980 coup. The coup played into the hands of TÜSIAD members as the junta banned strikes, put a freeze on wage rises and scrapped labor rights. Labor union representatives were arrested, and unions themselves were shut down as the junta hunted down both right-wing and left-wing activists.
TÜSIAD escaped the fate of thousands of associations shut down by the junta and, in 1981, was granted a special status by the junta-controlled government. TÜSIAD's earlier calls to the pre-coup government became economic policies of the junta, while the association's member companies saw their profits skyrocket in the coup era.
Then-Deputy Prime Minister Tansu Çiller had accused TÜSIAD of betraying the country when it blamed the government for economic woes and issued an ultimatum similar to the one it had directed at Ecevit. The business association was among the main opponents of Çiller's government with Erbakan's Welfare Party (RP), which eventually collapsed when the military carried out a so-called "postmodern coup" similar to the 1971 one.
TÜSIAD is accused of being a member of a notorious "gang of five" that included labor unions and two other business associations in the process leading up to the 1997 coup. They were supporters of informal opposition to the coalition government, along with the judiciary, academia and media.
The intense campaign against the government paved the way for the military to push the government out of office. TÜSIAD was also among supporters of anti-government rallies in the early years of the AK Party, which sought to rally the public against the "Islamist" AK Party, as its organizers claimed.
On Wednesday, Erdoğan warned TÜSIAD not to interfere in politics.
"If you are a businessmen's association, you will learn to act like a businessmen's association. You will not provoke the nation, you will not provoke the state institutions, you will not try to pressure the judiciary," he said.
"Those who wholeheartedly believe in the rule of law must be on the side of the law, not those who support terrorism," Erdoğan said.
"If you are keen on politics, you will either establish a party... or choose one of the opposition parties."
