Turkey: Businessman Osman Kavala remanded over spying

ISTANBUL

A businessman was remanded into custody by an Istanbul court Monday as part of a probe into the 2016 defeated coup orchestrated by the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), according to judicial sources.

Osman Kavala's suspicious relationship with Henri Barkey, a former U.S. State Department employee, was probed during the investigation by prosecutors, and he was sent to the judge on charges of espionage, said the sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

Kavala, among nine defendants acquitted last month of criminal charges related to the 2013 Gezi protests, was re-arrested later that day after being released from Silivri Prison in Istanbul.

He was re-arrested on charges of attempting to overthrow the constitutional order but denied all claims of his support for the 2016 defeated coup.

A council of judges and prosecutors has launched an investigation into the members of the high criminal court who acquitted the nine defendants in the Gezi Park case.

In the summer of 2013, a small number of demonstrations in Istanbul’s Gezi Park grew into a nationwide wave of protests against the government that left eight protesters and a police officer dead.

The government later said the protests were orchestrated by FETO members who had infiltrated the police and courts.

FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016 which left 251 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.

Turkey accuses FETO of a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.

*Writing by Havva Kara Aydin