Trustees were appointed on Friday to the companies of 32 people who are partners in various companies in Turkey’s Aegean province of Uşak due to their alleged involvement in coup plotting.
The largest among them is a textile company owned by jailed businessman Hazım Sesli, who is accused of links to the Gülen movement, which is considered by the government to be the mastermind of a failed coup on July 15 despite contradictory reports, including intelligence findings from the European Union.
The former head of the Uşak Organized Industrial Zone, Ali Yıldırım, is another victim of the confiscation of private property.
According to an Uşak court decision, Turkey’s state-run Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) will oversee these businesses.
In its war against the Gülen movement, the government has been seizing the assets of private individuals and companies on trumped-up charges of terrorism. Several major industrialists, from the Boydak to the Nakiboğlu families from the heartland of Anatolia, have lost their wealth during the Turkish government’s massive expropriations.
In a currently ongoing post-coup purge, over 135,000 people, including thousands within the military, have been purged due to their real or alleged connection to the Gülen movement, according to a statement by the labor minister on Jan. 10. As of Feb. 1, 89,775 people were being held without charge, with an additional 43,885 in pre-trial detention.