Top executive linked to Gülen detained on Friday


A court has placed seven people in custody, including the top executive of a construction company, on charges of financing the FETÖ leader, former cleric Fethullah Gülen, the state media said Friday.

The seven suspects were detained Monday along with some 100 others in a new crackdown on the U.S.-based imam who Ankara accuses of running a "terrorist organization" with aims of overthrowing President Erdoğan.

Halit Dumankaya, the chairman of the leading construction firm Dumankaya İnşaat, was one of those taken into custody charged with "financing a terrorist group," Anadolu Agency (AA) said.

The other three suspects are accused of "being members of an armed terrorist group," AA reported.

Founded in 1963, Dumankaya İnşaat is one of Turkey's biggest property developers with a long list of prestigious projects in Istanbul.

The company is also the jersey sponsor of one of Turkey's top football teams, Galatasaray, with stars like Lukas Podolski of Germany and Wesley Sneijder of the Netherlands sporting the firm's name on the back of their jerseys.

Prosecutors issued arrest warrants for 140 people and at least 105 people were detained earlier this week. By Friday, all had been released except for the remaining four, with 37 suspects released under probationary conditions and subject to monitoring by judicial authorities.

However, AA reported that 20 additional people, including business figures and lawyers, were arrested on Friday under suspicion of financing the Gülen Movement, with prosecutors issuing arrest warrants for another 30 suspects.