Turkey vows to shut down all FETO-linked companies

ANKARA

All companies affiliated with the Fetullah Terrorist Organization will be closed down, Turkish Minister of Customs and Trade, Bulent Tufenkci said Wednesday.

"There are between 200 and 250 companies run by the FETO group. All will be closed down,” Tufenkci told a meeting hosted by the Association of Economy Correspondents in the capital, Ankara.

“In addition to this, there are also some companies which are involved in providing financial support, transferring money and money laundering [for FETO]. We will definitely investigate them,” he said.

Tufenkci went on to say that this decision would not affect businesses that cut off all their ties with the network, following President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's warning in late 2013.

"Following December 17-25 graft probes, our President clearly said that this network [FETO] was a terrorist organization, and warned against supporting it.

"Businesspeople who cut off their relations [with FETO] after this warning, stopped all contact, kept up their anti-FETO stance, and resigned from [FETO-linked] associations have nothing to worry about," Tufenkci said.

"We are not on a witch hunt, and we are not acting on vengeance."

December 17-25 graft probes in 2013 targeted high-profile politicians and businessmen, including four cabinet members.

Over a hundred businesspeople were taken into custody on Wednesday as part of a nationwide investigation into the Fetullah Terrorist Organization, judicial sources have told Anadolu Agency.

The nationwide operation was carried out in 28 provinces, including Istanbul, Izmir and the capital, Ankara.

The total number of arrests was put at 112.

Turkey's government has said the July 15 coup attempt, which left 240 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured, was organized by followers of Fetullah Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania since 1999, and his FETO network.

Gulen is accused of leading a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary, forming what is commonly known as the ‘parallel state’.