7 detained for putting money into Bank Asya after Dec 2013

At least 7 people were detained for having raised the amount of the money held at their Bank Asya accounts after late 2013, state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Saturday.

Police in Iğdır, Muş, İstanbul, Rize, Erzurum and Düzce provinces detained 7 suspects over gradual deposit increase in their Bank Asya accounts after December 2013.

Anadolu mentioned no other reason for the detentions while the prosecutor in charge suppose that the suspects acted in accordance with the orders from the Gulen movement or what the Turkish government calls Fethullahist Terrorist Organization, FETÖ.

Bank Asya was earlier confiscated over ties to the movement, which is accused by the government of leading the July 15, 2016 failed coup. Prior to the confiscation, several pro-government companies withdrew to their holdings at the lender while the followers of the movement were mobilised to increase their deposits in reaction.

The movement denies involvement in the failed coup however already 60,000 people have been put in pretrial detention over ties to the group since the summer of 2016.

It is not a coincidence that prosecutors take “late 2013s” as a starting point to investigate Gulenists. On December 17 and 25, 2013, sweeping corruption and bribery probes implicated several cabinet ministers and pro-government businessmen while the government dismissed the allegations as “a plot by the Gulen movement to topple down the government.”

Published on Turkey Purge, 22 October 2017, Sunday