Executive of Dogan faces probe
Erdogan vows to ‘cleanse’
ISTANBUL, Dec 2, (RTRS): Turkish authorities are investigating an executive at Dogan Holding, the conglomerate said on Thursday, heightening concern President Tayyip Erdogan’s crackdown after a failed coup may now spread to the country’s top companies.
Since a attempted putsch in July, authorities have detained or dismissed more 125,000 people in the police, judiciary and civil service and arrested 36,000. Nearly 600 companies have been seized, many of them smaller provincial firms.
Companies with longstanding ties to the exiled Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Erdogan has accused of masterminding the failed coup, have also been targeted in the crackdown.
Until now, Turkey’s leading firms, mostly Istanbul-based and affiliated with the secular elite, have been largely untouched.
But on Thursday, Erdogan announced an acceleration of the campaign to root out supporters of what it calls the “Gulenist Terror Organisation” or “FETO” and members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
“A serious cleansing in public institutions, media and business world is underway within the frame of struggle against FETO and the PKK,” he said in a speech in Ankara.
Dogan, which has interests in media, finance, energy and tourism, was founded by Aydin Dogan, a prominent figure in the secular establishment. He has previously clashed with Erdogan and his group has faced multibillion-dollar tax fines.
Dogan Holding said in a statement that its Ankara representative was under investigation. While the company itself has not been formally accused of anything, it also disavowed links to the US-based Gulen.
The cleric has lived in selfimposed exile since 1999, denied the charges against him and condemned the coup.
Also:
ISTANBUL: A Turkish prosecutor called Friday called for charges related to a deadly Israeli raid on a
Gaza-bound ship to be dropped following diplomatic reconciliation between Turkey and Israel, state media reported.
Nine Turkish activists died when Israeli marines stormed the Mavi Marmara as it headed to the Gaza Strip in 2010, and a 10th died in hospital in 2014.