Rasim Ozan Kütahyalı, a pro-government commentator and a close confidant of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, was detained Thursday as part of an illegal betting investigation carried out across 21 provinces.
Kütahyalı was detained at his home in İstanbul in an operation coordinated by the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office of the southern province of Adana that is targeting alleged illegal betting, aggravated fraud, bribery and money laundering.
Justice Minister Akın Gürlek announced the operation on X, saying detention warrants had been issued for 200 suspects as part of what he described as an investigation into a “multi-layered criminal organization” targeting public order and the economy.
Adana Cumhuriyet Başsavcılığımızın koordinesinde yürütülen kapsamlı soruşturma kapsamında; yasa dışı bahis, nitelikli dolandırıcılık, rüşvet ve kara para aklama suçlarına yönelik 21 ilimizde 200 şüpheli şahsa yönelik gerçekleştirilen eş zamanlı operasyonla, milletimizin huzuruna…
— Akın Gürlek (@abakingurlek) May 14, 2026
According to Turkish media reports, the suspects include three bank executives, eight police officers and four lawyers. Authorities also seized 221 properties, 120 vehicles and three boats, while trustees were appointed to three electronic payment companies, three jewelry stores in Adana and a foreign exchange office.
Gürlek said reports by Turkey’s Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) as well as technical and physical surveillance had found that around TL 100 billion ($22 million) and $2 billion in alleged criminal proceeds had been laundered through the financial system.
“The determined stance shown by our Justice, Interior and Treasury and Finance ministries, in great coordination, is the clearest indication that we will never make concessions to financial crime organizations or illegal betting networks,” Gürlek said.
Kütahyalı’s detention especially attracted attention because he had written on X a day earlier, in response to Gürlek’s announcement of a separate illegal betting operation based in Düzce, that “All illegal betting gangs will be finished.”
Yasadışı bahis çetelerinin tamamı bitecek https://t.co/IcSaKteQX0
— Rasim Ozan Kütahyalı (@RasimOzan_K) May 13, 2026
Turkish authorities have carried out several large-scale illegal betting operations in recent months. Earlier this week, police detained 108 people in raids across 35 provinces as part of an İstanbul-based investigation into an illegal betting and gambling network. Police also blocked access to more than 5,000 websites allegedly involved in illegal betting, advertising or payment transactions.
Turkey has stepped up financial crime investigations in recent years after the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global anti-money laundering watchdog, put the country on its “grey list” in 2021 over weaknesses in its system for combating money laundering and terrorist financing.
Turkey was removed from the list in June 2024 after the FATF said Ankara had made “significant progress” in improving its anti-money laundering and counterterrorism financing framework.
Since then Turkish authorities have expanded investigations into illegal betting networks, cryptocurrency transfers and payment companies as regulators seek to prevent illicit funds from moving through the financial system.
According to a 2025 activity report published by MASAK, authorities completed 502 analysis files related to illegal betting activities and sent 545 intelligence reports and information notes to the relevant institutions. The agency said transactions worth 5.1 billion lira ($131 million) linked to accounts allegedly used by illegal betting organizers were suspended as part of anti-money laundering measures.
Kütahyalı, a longtime pro-government commentator, has recently faced legal trouble over remarks on domestic politics. Prosecutors sought a prison sentence of up to three years for him last year over claims that the government would soon take control of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP). He was briefly detained and later released under judicial supervision in that case.
He has also drawn attention for remarks about his role in the government-aligned media campaign against the faith-based Gülen movement. In a 2024 interview, he said he had helped popularize the derogatory acronym “FETÖ,” used by the Turkish government to refer to the movement as a terrorist organization, describing it as a deliberate effort to shape public perception.
The movement, inspired by the views of the late Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, was declared a terrorist organization by the Turkish government in May 2016 and accused of orchestrating a coup attempt on July 15, 2016. The Gülen movement strongly denies both accusations.
The movement is the subject of constant scapegoating in Turkey, although many of its followers are behind bars on bogus terrorism or coup charges or had to flee abroad to avoid government persecution.