Business network on trial for links to Turkish coup

ISTANBUL

The trial of 86 suspected Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO)-linked business figures, who up to 22 years in jail if convicted, began in Istanbul on Monday.

Known as the TUSKON case, the trial involves members of the TUSKON business association shut down for its alleged financial support for FETO.

Of the 86 suspects, 31 are in custody while three remain fugitives, including Fetullah Gulen, the FETO leader blamed for orchestrating last year’s July 15 defeated coup.

Also being tried in absentia are Rizanur Meral, the ex-chairman of the and the association’s former secretary general Mustafa Muhammet Gunay.

Among those in custody are Faruk Kavurmaci, chairman of the Aydinli Group, and Faruk and Nejat Gullu, brothers and co-owners of the well-known Faruk Gulluoglu baklava chain.

Both companies were placed under the control of trustees after their owners were arrested in September last year.

The hearing at the 23rd Criminal Court at Istanbul’s Silivri prison was attended by the lawyers of 78 suspects.

The indictment from the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office seeks three aggravated life imprisonment sentences for Gulen, who has lived in the U.S. since 1999, Meral and Gunay for attempting to overturn the constitutional order, parliament and the government.

They also face between five and 22-and-a-half years for establishing and organizing a terror group, namely FETO, and forging documents as part of a terrorist offense.

Other suspects face imprisonment ranging from seven-and-a-half to 15 years for membership of a terrorist group.

Separately, the trial involving 534 former members of the Presidential Guard Regiment continued in Ankara on Monday.

The former soldiers are said to have been involved in the raid on the main Ankara offices of national broadcaster TRT on the night of the coup bid and are charged with having ties to FETO.

Also, ongoing is the case against 486 FETO suspects allegedly involved in organizing the attempted coup from the Akinci air base north of Ankara.

In Istanbul, 143 former police officers, including the former police intelligence chiefs, are on trial espionage and illegal wiretapping charges.

Reporting by Yunus Ege and Melike by Merve Aydogan