Erdogan releasing 38,000 prisoners to free up jail space for "coup plotters" It's not a failed coup, it's a successful purge.
Turkey seizes assets as post-coup crackdown turns to business Turkish authorities ordered the detention of nearly 200 people, including leading businessmen, and seized their assets as an investigation into suspects in last month's failed military rebellion shifted to the private sector. President Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to choke off businesses linked to U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom he blames for the July 15 coup attempt, describing his schools, firms and charities as "nests of terrorism." Tens of thousands of troops, civil servants, judges and officials have been detained or dismissed in a massive purge that Western allies worry Erdogan is using to crack down on broader dissent, risking stability in the NATO partner. No way was Erdogan not going to seize as much money as he could, along with taking absolute power to become "President for Life". Some Muslim reformers have decried how democracy isn't really democracy in the Middle East because they can never vote rulers out of power. Well, Turkey is joining the club. Further down the article says: Among the businesses targeted were two Fortune 500 companies, CNN Turk said, naming clothing makers Aydinli Group and Eroglu Holding, which both run large retail chains. No one answered calls to Aydinli, which had sales of 928 million lira ($317 million) in 2015, nor to Eroglu, which reported revenue of 490 million lira last year. Eroglu said it had no links to any company providing finance to Gulen's movement, according to the Hurriyet news website. Nejat Gullu, chairman of baklava maker Gulluoglu, was detained, his company said in a statement on its website. Gullu "would never stand with a terrorist organization or civic group that supports a terrorist organization," it said and expressed confidence he would be cleared of any charges. Earlier this week, police searched the offices of a nationwide retail chain and a healthcare and technology company, and detained key executives. Turkey authorities said 4,262 companies and institutions with links to Gulen had been shut. In total, 40,029 people had been detained since the coup attempt, and about half had been formally arrested pending charges. In purges of the military, police and civil service 79,900 people had been removed from public duty Turkey also wants other nations to crack down on Gulen-affiliated organisations, including schools and businesses. European Affairs Minister Omer Celik called on Germany to shut businesses that have links to Gulen and are operating there, according to Wirtschaftswoche magazine. Turkey did have a secular democracy and a private sector that wasn't totally controlled by corrupt government officials. Well so much for that! There's now scant difference between Erdogan's Turkey and Egypt under Mubarak or Syria under Hafez al-Assad. The scary part for Germany is that massive crowds of Turkish Erdogan supporters have flooded German streets in cities like Cologne, where 50,000 marched under Turkish flags and Erdogan posters. When Erdogan demands that Germany crack down on Turkish businesses in Germany that he wants to seize, they have to be aware that he has more boots on the ground in Germany than the German government does. Turkey has about 3 million Turks in Germany, many ready and willing to do Erdogan's bidding.
