A total of 4,724 companies and organizations have been closed down due to alleged links to the faith-based Gülen movement since a failed coup attempt on July 15, according to information from the relevant ministries.
The ministers shared figures with a parliamentary commission that was set up to investigate the July 15 coup attempt.
The closed-down organizations and businesses include 34 private healthcare organizations, 1,411 private educational institutions, 995 private dormitories, 1,326 foundations, 15 private universities, 31 labor unions, 733 university preparation courses, 70 private radio and TV stations and 109 newspapers, magazines and news agencies.
A total of 3,361 title deeds belonging to the closed-down companies and organizations have been transferred to the state treasury.
Turkey survived a military coup attempt on July 15 that killed over 240 people and wounded more than a thousand others. Immediately after the putsch, the government along with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement.
Despite Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, whose views inspired the movement, and the movement having denied the accusation, Erdoğan — calling the coup attempt “a gift from God” — and the government launched a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting them in custody.
More than 115,000 people have been purged from state bodies, in excess of 90,000 detained and over 39,000 have been arrested since the coup attempt. Arrestees include journalists, judges, prosecutors, police and military officers, academics, governors and even a comedian. Critics argue that lists of Gülen sympathizers were drawn up prior to the coup attempt.