An Ankara court on Thursday issued a detention warrant for Nevin İpek, the wife of Akın İpek, a Turkish businessman who is being sought by the Turkish government over alleged links to the faith-based Gülen movement.
The Milliyet daily reported that the Ankara 24th High Criminal court issued the warrant after İpek failed to appear at an ongoing trial that includes İpek family members and the Koza-İpek Holding.
The Gülen movement is accused by the government of masterminding a coup attempt in July 2016, an allegation strongly denied by the movement.
Akın İpek and his family have been under immense pressure from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government due to alleged links to group.
On Oct. 24, 2015, the Erdoğan government appointed trustees to take over the management of dozens of companies belonging to the İpek family in addition to several media outlets operating under the İpek Media Group due to their critical stance against the government.
Several Turkish courts have already confiscated some TL 12 billion (about $4 billion) in property that belonged to the İpek family, according to a statement by Minister for Environment and Urbanization Mehmet Özhaseki on Sept. 1, 2016.
In June 2016 Nevin İpek’s passport was cancelled by Turkish officials after it was allegedly reported lost by someone other than herself.
“The Turkish Embassy in London has not returned the passport to its owner because it was allegedly reported lost. This issue cannot be explained by law, reason or ethics. Are we sad? Yes. But we are not sad about what they did to us, we are sad to see what our government has become,” Akın İpek said on June 2, 2016. (Turkey Purge)