Turkish executives among 100 detained over links to cleric Gulen

Istanbul: Executives of a major Turkish company were among 100 people detained by police on Monday over allegations of funding the movement of cleric Fethullah Gulen, a foe of President Tayyip Erdogan, state media said.
The raids were the latest police operations targeting thousands of supporters of the US-based cleric, accused of leading what prosecutors described as a "Gulenist Terror Group" trying to overthrow Erdogan. Gulen denies the accusations.
Two board members of the Dumankaya construction group were named by state-run Anadolu Agency among those taken into custody. Dumankaya said in a statement that its board members had been invited to police headquarters to provide information.
Anadolu said the police operation, focused on Istanbul, was launched across nine provinces and 101 people have so far been taken into custody, with prosecutors having issued arrest warrants for 140 people under the probe.
Those held are accused of charges of membership and funding of a terror group and spreading terrorist propaganda, it said. The report added that they included 41 employees of Islamic lender Bank Asya, which was founded by followers of Gulen and seized by the government last year.
Various companies, including ones involved media, mining, furniture and cable-making having been probed and executives detained during police operations targeting Gulen's followers.
Media outlets linked to him have been seized and some shut down.
Dumankaya has grown strongly in recent years and plans investments of over $525 million (1.5 billion lira) this year, targeting a rise in sales to 750 million lira this year from 463 million last year, according to its website.
Erdogan accuses Gulen of setting up a "parallel state" and conspiring to unseat the government with a network of supporters in the judiciary, police and media. Gulen, whose adherents run schools and are active in the media sector, denies the charges.
A total 2,261 people have been rounded up in operations in 48 provinces across Turkey targeting the financial activities of Gulen's followers, the pro-government Milliyet newspaper reported at the weekend, citing police data.
As well as businessmen, those detained include police officers, civil servants and teachers. Milliyet said the number of those detained would increase in the coming days. Some 500 of those detained have been jailed pending trial, Milliyet said.
A Turkish court in December 2014 issued an arrest warrant for Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in the United States since 1999, accusing him of heading a criminal group.
The two men were allies until police and prosecutors seen as sympathetic to Gulen opened a corruption probe into Erdogan's inner circle in 2013. Thousands of police officers, prosecutors and judges were sacked or reassigned for alleged links to Gulen.