The former owner of Zaman, Turkey’s biggest selling newspaper before it was seized by the Turkish government, was detained over suspected links to US-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, whom the government accuses of masterminding a failed coup attempt on July 15.
With an arrest warrant out against him since June, Aladdin Kaya was detained in Balıkesir’s Edremit district on Aug. 19.
Turkey survived a military coup attempt on July 15 that killed some 240 people and wounded a thousand others. While the government accuses Gülen of masterminding the putsch, he has repeatedly denied such claims, condemning any intervention into democratically elected governments.
The accusations against Gülen are nothing new. On March 4 the government seized the Zaman newspaper over its links to Gülen and changed its editorial policy into one strongly supporting the government.
More than 80,000 people have been purged from within public institutions, while over 40,000 people have been detained over alleged links to Gülen and his teachings since July 15. Meanwhile, some 20,000 people are under arrest pending trial. (TurkeyPurge)