posted by Christopher W Holton
The Erdogan regime in Turkey is going after the Gulen organization’s shariah-compliant Bank Asya’s shareholders.
This is the latest financial aspect of the ongoing campaign that Erdogan is waging on Gulen.
Erdogan and Gulen were never best of friends but at one time their animosity de-escalated to the point of rivalry.
The Gulenists and Erdogan’s supporters cooperated in the brutal repression of protestors a few years ago.
Since then, however, Erdogan has increasingly viewed Gulen as an outright threat and he has been arresting Gulen supporters and continuing to pressure the US to extradite Fethullah Gulen from his hideout in rural Pennsylvania.
There are no good guys in this conflict.
Turkish authorities are seeking the arrest of 68 shareholders of Bank Asya in an operation targeting the network of preacher Fethullah Gulen, who is accused of plotting a failed coup attempt in 2016.
The operation, focusing on Istanbul and encompassing nine provinces, targeted “class A” shareholders who had voting rights to determine the bank’s administrative board, police said on Wednesday.The state-run Anadolu news agency said 49 of the suspects had been held so far.
Bank Asya was founded by followers of the US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, and was seized by the state in 2015 along with other Gulen-linked firms in a government crackdown.
