Turkish police have raided over 40 firms in Istanbul with warrants to arrest company executives as part of an investigation into the mid-July abortive coup.
During the simultaneous raids on Tuesday, police officers detained 12 executives from at least 44 companies in the Uskudar and Umraniye districts, according to the Anadolu news agency.
The report did not reveal the names of the enterprises.
The companies are accused of providing financial support to the movement of US-based opposition cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is blamed for the coup attempt. Gulen, however, denies the allegations.
Turkey’s coup, post-coup crackdwon: A Timeline
July 15, 2016: A faction of armed forces uses tanks and attack helicopters to seize power from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
July 16, 2016: Security sources say coup attempt was being orchestrated by officers with links to Gulen. The opposition figure, however, condemns the coup bid and denies involvement in the attempt.
July 16, 2016: Prime Minister Binaldi Yildirim declares coup attempt over. He puts the total death toll at 265, including 161 civilians and 104 coup “plotters.”
July 17, 2016: More than 60,000 soldiers, police, judges, civil servants are suspended or detained.
July 19, 2016: World powers warn Ankara over coup crackdown.
Jul 20, 2016: Erdogan declares a three-month state of emergency.
August 4, 2016: An Istanbul-based court issues an arrest warrant for Gulen.
August 10, 2016: Erdogan calls on the US to extradite Gulen.
August 13, 2016: The Turkish premier puts the number of those fired or suspended from work in the pos-coup crackdown at more than 81,000 people.
On Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus declared a set of new government decrees for targeting suspected supporters of Gulen.
“A list compiled from various departments including the foreign ministry, coast guard, national police and Turkish armed forces will be published in today's governmental decree and those Gulen members named in the list will lose their qualification as public servants,” Kurtulmus added.
Later in the day, police forces detained at least 136 personnel working at Caglayan, Bakirkoy and Gaziosmanpasa courthouses in Istanbul.
The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office had issued arrest warrants for 173 personnel in the three courthouses.
While other police teams were searching the suspects’ homes, the forces entered the personnel’s offices early in the morning and arrested them.
Four other courthouse personnel were detained last week.
