Turkish police detained 23 people on Tuesday as part of an expanding investigation into businesses allegedly affiliated with the Gülen movement, targeting two döner restaurant chains with branches across the country, Turkish Minute reported.
The operation, centered in the northern province of Samsun, focused on Maydonoz Döner, a chain previously raided in February and May, and Kral Döner, which prosecutors say was founded by the same group of partners. Both are accused of acting as financial fronts for the Gülen movement, a faith-based group inspired by the views of the late cleric Fethullah Gülen.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been targeting followers of the Gülen movement since the corruption investigations of 2013, which implicated then-prime minister Erdoğan, his family members and inner circle.
Dismissing the investigations as a Gülenist coup and conspiracy against his government, Erdoğan designated the movement as a terrorist organization and began targeting its members. He intensified the crackdown on the movement following an abortive putsch in 2016, which he accused Gülen of masterminding.
According to the Samsun Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, the official and unofficial owners, business partners and first-degree relatives linked to the two companies are believed to have strong ties to the movement. The raids were conducted by the Samsun police’s organized crime and intelligence units in four districts: İlkadım, Canik, Çarşamba and Vezirköprü, as well as in Ankara and İstanbul.
Prosecutors said financial activity related to the businesses was identified in a report by Turkey’s Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK).
Those detained include former police officers, military personnel, teachers, a prosecutor dismissed during a post-coup state of emergency and a retired religious affairs official. Police seized digital materials, computers, mobile phones, memory cards and SIM cards, along with four notebooks believed to contain financial records. They also confiscated 389,230 Turkish lira (about $12,000) and $250 in cash.
The crackdown follows earlier investigations into Maydonoz Döner and Antiochia Künefe, a dessert chain headquartered in İzmir, which was targeted just a day earlier. In that operation, 33 suspects were detained on allegations of raising funds for the Gülen movement.
As for Maydonoz Döner, some 400 people were detained in raids in February and earlier in May targeting the fast-food chain, which authorities also accuse of ties to the Gülen movement. At least 126 people, including four civil servants, were arrested.
Maydonoz Döner, founded in 2018 by businessman Ömer Şeyhin, expanded rapidly to over 400 locations in Turkey and abroad before trustees were appointed to oversee its operations, part of a broader practice of government seizures of companies linked to the movement.
Since the failed coup, Turkish authorities have pursued an extensive campaign against suspected Gülen supporters, targeting educators, journalists, civil servants and businesses. More than 700,000 people have been investigated and tens of thousands have been arrested or dismissed from public service.
Once praised by the Turkish government for its contributions to education and interfaith dialogue, the Gülen movement has faced relentless pressure amid accusations it was behind not only the coup attempt but also politically sensitive corruption probes in 2013.
A report last year titled “Persecutory Confiscation Amounting to Crimes Against Humanity: Case of the Gülen Group” exposed the vast scale of property confiscations in Turkey targeting the movement, with an estimated value of $50 billion and affecting over 1.5 million people in what the authors call systematic and widespread violations of domestic and international law that amount to “crimes against humanity.”
Human rights organizations and Western governments have repeatedly voiced concern over Ankara’s use of counterterrorism laws to stifle dissent and punish perceived political opponents.
