A court in the central city of Kayseri yesterday handed down prison terms to 16 defendants accused of membership in the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ). Defendants included businesspeople implicated in financing the group. The court ruled for prison terms between four years and 10 years for defendants, while two others on trial were acquitted.
Prosecutors have accused defendants of donating money to the group and financing Bank Asya, the now-defunct lender associated with the terrorist group.
Kayseri, a commercial hub in central Turkey, is the hometown of Boydak, a business dynasty which once ran a conglomerate of furniture and energy companies.
Members of the Boydak family were arrested before and after the 2016 coup attempt by FETÖ for financing the terrorist group. Nagihan Boydak, a member of the family, was among those sentenced in yesterday's trial. Other members of the family were handed down prison terms of up to 18 years in trials concluded in July. Prosecutors have accused the family of systematically funding FETÖ, Bank Asya and giving regular donations to now-defunct charities linked to the group. Between 2008 and 2016 alone, the defendants transferred TL 40.8 million ($8.46 million) to seven entities linked to the terrorist group.
Elsewhere, courts across Turkey handed down prison terms for FETÖ members in trials that concluded yesterday. In the western city of Aydın, a policewoman who confessed that the terrorist group helped her promotion to the rank of deputy inspector was sentenced to two years in prison.
In the capital Ankara, two defendants in a case on the Public Personnel Selection Exam (KPSS) were sentenced to six years for FETÖ membership. The terrorist group is accused of supplying questions and answers to hundreds of members for the 2010 exam which is used for admission in to the public sector. Ayşe Sultan Yıldız and Sevtap Baykal who were sentenced by the Ankara court, were among those who had earlier access to KPSS questions.
