Turkey has named 68 companies including German industrial giants Daimler and BASF as supporters of the Gülen movement, in a list sent to Germany’s federal police, according to the Die Zeit weekly.
The list names carmaker Daimler and chemicals group BASF as backers of terrorism, but also includes a Turkish fast food restaurant and a late-night food store, Die Zeit reported on Wednesday.
The list was sent to German authorities several weeks ago, the newspaper said, recalling that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan claimed to have sent 4,500 files on alleged supporters of the movement to Germany and demanded that they be extradited to Turkey.
“In Berlin, the list is described as ‘absurd’ and ‘ridiculous’,” the weekly added.
Meanwhile Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Şimşek said on Thursday that Turkey is not investigating Daimler or BASF.
At home, Turkey has confiscated 966 companies with assets of $11 billion over links to the movement so far.
Turkey survived a military coup attempt on July 15 that killed 249 people and wounded more than a thousand others. Immediately after the putsch, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government along with President Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement.
Fethullah Gülen, who inspired the movement, strongly denied having any role in the failed coup and called for an international investigation into it, but President Erdoğan — calling the coup attempt “a gift from God” — and the government initiated a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting them in custody.
Turkey has suspended or dismissed more than 150,000 judges, teachers, police and civil servants since July 15.
Turkey’s Justice Ministry announced on July 13 that 50,510 people have been arrested and 169,013 have been the subject of legal proceedings on coup charges since the failed coup.