New details emerging Friday from a major investigation into the group known in Turkish society as the Süleymancılar are shedding light on its alleged financial network, internal organization and plans to expand its operations abroad, a day after authorities detained its leader Alihan Kuriş and dozens of associates.

The investigation has brought renewed attention to a religious community that has maintained a large network of dormitories, businesses and educational institutions in Türkiye and abroad for decades, while also facing longstanding public scrutiny over its closed organizational structure.

Kuriş, who took control of the group in 2016, was among 37 people detained in a nationwide operation Thursday targeting what prosecutors describe as an alleged profit-driven criminal organization.

The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office said the investigation concerns allegations including laundering assets derived from crime, fraud causing losses to public institutions and violations of the Tax Procedure Law.

Authorities have also been investigating a financial network involving individuals and companies linked to the group. A report by Türkiye's Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) identified more than TL 100 billion ($2 billion) in financial movements allegedly taken abroad through the network.

The investigation has also uncovered what authorities describe as a plan to move a significant part of the organization's activities to Germany, including a major center under construction in Cologne.

Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi said authorities believe the center represents an investment of about $70 million and was intended to become the organization's new base once completed.

"We know that they are building a large center in Cologne, Germany. Once completed, the headquarters will represent a massive $70 million investment. We assess that, once the building is finished, all activities will be transferred there and conducted from that location,” Çiftçi said.

He said authorities had been conducting a detailed investigation into the group's structure and financial operations for an extended period.

"Alihan Kuriş took over this organization in 2016. After he assumed control, its activities began to be conducted with much greater secrecy,” Çiftçi said.

Secret compartment

The circumstances surrounding Kuriş's detention have also emerged as one of the striking details of the investigation.

When law enforcement officers went to his registered residence to execute the detention order, they could not find him. Investigators determined that Kuriş had left his cellphone at the house and moved to another address.

He was initially not found at the second location either.

A detailed search of the residence, however, revealed a hidden compartment. Kuriş was eventually found hiding inside it and detained, according to information emerging from the investigation.

The operation was conducted simultaneously in 17 provinces, including Istanbul, Ankara and Antalya.

Authorities initially issued detention orders for 49 suspects. Nine were determined to be abroad, while efforts to apprehend seven others continued. A total of 37 suspects had been detained as of Thursday.

Search and seizure measures were also ordered at 43 addresses belonging to suspects and 80 addresses connected to 32 companies, according to authorities.

The investigation is therefore extending beyond the individuals detained Thursday to the wider financial and organizational infrastructure allegedly connected to Kuriş.

The financial dimension of the case has become one of its most significant elements.

MASAK's investigation found that more than TL 100 billion had allegedly been moved abroad through people and companies linked to the Kuriş network.

Investigators are examining financial transfers, cash movements and company transactions as part of the case. Reports on the MASAK findings have also raised questions about transactions that allegedly did not correspond with the stated commercial activities of some companies.

According to information emerging from the investigation, some companies linked to the network received large foreign-currency transfers from companies based abroad that investigators found difficult to reconcile with their recorded commercial activities.

The authorities are examining whether such transactions were part of an effort to move and launder assets derived from crime.

The case has consequently placed the group's business network under scrutiny alongside its religious and educational activities.

The Süleymancılar, also known as Süleymanlılar among members, are a Türkiye-based religious community whose roots go back to Islamic scholar Süleyman Hilmi Tunahan.

The community takes its name from Tunahan, who established a network of religious education around his teachings. Tunahan remains respected by many mainstream religious scholars and followers in Türkiye.

Over subsequent decades, the movement developed an extensive network involving religious education, student dormitories, associations and businesses.

The group has also established a substantial presence outside Türkiye, particularly in Germany.

Its network has long attracted public attention because it extends beyond conventional religious activities.

Critics have alleged that members maintain close commercial relationships with one another and that business dealings within the community have helped create an internal economic network.

The group has developed restaurants, shops and other businesses, while its dormitories have provided accommodation and religious education for generations of students.

Critics have also questioned the nature of education provided in some of its dormitories, alleging that religious instruction has operated alongside or beyond the curriculum established by the Education Ministry.

The community, however, has generally presented its dormitory and educational network as part of its religious and social activities.

The extent to which these institutions function as a coordinated network is now among the questions being examined in the investigation.

Opaque organizational structure

The group's internal organization has been another longstanding source of public suspicion.

Authorities investigating the Kuriş network say it operated through regional and local coordinators, a commission system and a strict hierarchy.

The investigation alleges that senior figures used encrypted email systems and that common messaging and social media applications such as WhatsApp and Facebook were prohibited.

Important decisions and instructions were reportedly carried by specially designated couriers known as "ulak,” or messengers, in an effort to prevent communications from being traced.

Authorities also found that detailed information about personnel and members was allegedly stored in a dedicated encrypted computer program.

The investigation is examining whether these practices were simply methods of maintaining internal discipline and confidentiality or whether they were part of a broader organizational structure used to facilitate alleged criminal activity.

Authorities have described similarities between the alleged organizational methods of the Kuriş network and those previously associated with the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ).

The comparison is particularly sensitive in Türkiye, where the government and much of society have remained deeply alert to clandestine religious networks since the 2016 coup attempt organized by FETÖ.

The Süleymancılar have operated for decades without the kind of nationwide criminal investigation now targeting the Kuriş leadership.

Yet the group's relatively closed structure has repeatedly attracted public debate.

Critics have questioned the community's internal hierarchy, its educational and dormitory network, its commercial activities and the close relationships among its members.

Some critics have also alleged that members use distinctive clothing or other recognizable practices that allow them to identify one another and maintain internal cohesion.

These allegations have contributed to an image of a tightly connected organization operating through its own social, educational and commercial channels.

At the same time, the community's supporters argue that such networks are simply mechanisms through which a religious community preserves its identity, supports its members and maintains religious education.

The distinction is now central to the investigation.

The Ankara prosecutor's office has stressed that the case does not target people because of their faith, religious affiliation or proximity to a religious community. Rather, the investigation concerns specific allegations of financial and organized criminal activity.

FETÖ's shadow

The sensitivity surrounding the case cannot be separated from Türkiye's experience with FETÖ.

For decades, the network led by late U.S.-based Fetullah Gülen infiltrated state institutions while maintaining a highly secretive organizational structure.

The network perpetrated the July 15, 2016 coup attempt, which killed 251 people and sought to overthrow the elected government.

The failed coup fundamentally changed the way Turkish authorities and much of society viewed closed religious networks with hierarchical structures and extensive internal communication systems.

Since then, the state has intensified its scrutiny of organizations suspected of exploiting religious structures to establish parallel systems of authority or conceal illegal activities.

The Süleymancılar investigation is not itself an investigation into religious belief. Prosecutors have explicitly said that religious affiliation is not the subject of the case.

But the similarities alleged by investigators in organizational methods have inevitably revived memories of the FETÖ experience.

The Adnan Oktar case

The Süleymancılar case also comes amid a broader history of high-profile investigations into religiously organized structures in Türkiye.

One of the most prominent examples was the case involving Adnan Oktar, popularly known as "Adnan Hoca” and also known by the pen name Harun Yahya.

Oktar built a "religious" organization that became widely known in Türkiye from the 1980s onward. The investigations revelated that the organization exploited religion, isolating young people from their families and engaging in a range of serious crimes.

In July 2018, Oktar and 176 members of his organization were detained over forming a criminal organization, child sexual abuse, sexual assault, blackmail and political and military espionage.

Oktar was later convicted and sentenced to thousands of years in prison.

While the Oktar case is separate from the investigation into Kuriş, it remains part of the wider Turkish experience with closed organizations accused of combining religious influence, financial power and strict internal control.

Allegations involving Gülen

The current investigation is also examining alleged links between parts of the Kuriş network and activities associated with FETÖ.

Authorities have alleged that, following Gülen's death in the United States, a delegation from the group's U.S. network attended his funeral on Kuriş's instructions.

It was also alleged that events commemorating Gülen were organized at the group's facilities in several countries.

Investigators further allege that activities resembling the "interfaith dialogue” initiatives previously used by FETÖ were conducted for years through the group's German structure, involving Catholic Church representatives and Jewish organizations.

These claims remain part of the investigation and have not been established by a court.