Turkish police have detained 23 people in a renewed crackdown on individuals accused of ties to a popular döner restaurant chain recently seized by the government over its alleged links to the faith-based Gülen movement, the TR724 news website reported on Friday.
The detentions took place in the central province of Eskişehir and several other provinces as part of an investigation overseen by the Eskişehir Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. The probe targeted people who had conducted business with Maydonoz Döner, a fast-growing restaurant chain to which the government appointed a trustee in February.
The prosecutor’s office accuses the suspects of being part of what it called the Gülen movement’s “current structure.”
The Gülen movement, inspired by the views of the late Turkish-Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, is accused by the Turkish government of masterminding a failed coup in July 2016. Gülen, who died in the US in October, strongly denied having any role in the failed putsch.
During Friday’s raids police also confiscated three $1 bills, which Turkish authorities often claim are symbolic markers of affiliation with the Gülen movement, as well as mobile phones, computers, nearly 80,000 Turkish lira in cash and a religious book written by Gülen that is banned in Turkey.
The raids follow a larger operation on February 21, when police detained 353 people across 31 provinces, including six business associates, 10 civil servants and numerous employees of Maydonoz Döner. That operation, launched by the Antalya Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, marked the beginning of a sweeping investigation into the company’s alleged role in financing the Gülen movement.
The number of detainees, which initially stood at 353, later increased to 372 following operations across 32 provinces. Of those, 126 people, including four civil servants, have been formally arrested, while 156 were released under judicial supervision.
The company, established in 2018 by businessman Ömer Şeyhin, grew rapidly, opening more than 400 restaurants across Turkey and several abroad.
According to Turkish prosecutors, the company operated under a franchise system that allegedly allowed individuals previously investigated for Gülen links to enter into unofficial partnerships in exchange for payments. These new partners reportedly needed references from within the movement. Authorities claim franchise locations provided employment and financial support to Gülen-linked individuals, with a portion of the revenue directed to the group.
The Turkish government has since appointed trustees to 22 of Maydonoz Döner’s franchise locations following the detentions, a practice widely used after the 2016 coup attempt to seize businesses linked to the Gülen movement.
Over the last decade Gülen and his movement, which in the past had been praised by the Turkish government for their activities in education and inter-religious and intercultural dialogue, have faced various accusations from the government, including masterminding corruption investigations in 2013 and the coup attempt in 2016.
The Turkish government labeled Gülen and his movement “terrorists” in May 2016.
Gülen and his followers have strongly denied any involvement in the coup or any terrorist activity but have been the subject of a harsh crackdown for a decade, which intensified in the aftermath of the abortive putsch.
Since the coup attempt, more than 700,000 people have been investigated on terrorism or coup-related charges due to their alleged links to the movement and thousands were arrested.
Friday’s operation is part of a broader crackdown on alleged Gülen supporters, with the government continuing to target individuals and businesses suspected of being connected to the group.
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.”