Hundreds of companies seized in probe into Turkey's failed coup attempt

The Turkish authorities have seized hundreds of businesses as part of the probe into the failed July 15 military coup attempt, issuing detention orders for dozens of businesspeople, some of whom have been arrested. 

The authorities then said 4,262 companies and institutions had been shut over alleged ties with the Fethullahist Terror Organization (FETÖ), said to be behind the coup attempt. 

The chief prosecutor in Istanbul had on Aug. 18 ordered the confiscation of the properties of 187 suspects, including Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON) Chairman Rızanur Meral, Aydınlı Group Chairman Ömer Faruk Kavurmacı, Eroğlu Chair Nurettin Eroğlu and two brothers who run two separate Güllüoğlu Baklava chains. The decision to confiscate the properties was taken under a statutory decree published as part of the ongoing state of emergency in Turkey. The assets of 21 businesspeople were then seized.

Eroğlu, whose company employs 16,000 people, said he had no links to any company providing financing to the Gülen movement, and he was later released by the prosecutor's office. Nejat Güllü and Kavurmacı are still detained.

One of the biggest business holdings to which trustees have been appointed is Boydak Holding. A Turkish court on Aug. 18 appointed trustees to Boydak Holding, which has 41 companies in various sectors, over alleged ties with FETÖ.      

A local court in the Central Anatolian province of Kayseri appointed five trustees to the company, according to a judicial source.

A former executive at the holding, Hacı Boydak, and three other executives - Şükrü, İlyas, and Bekir Boydak - were detained in early August, while a court in Kayseri ordered the release of the holding's chairman, Mustafa...