Turkish authorities on Friday widened their post-coup crackdown to the business sector, detaining three top tycoons as part of investigations into the activities of US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen.
Twenty-one journalists also appeared in an Istanbul court after being rounded up in the sweeping purge, which has seen almost 16,000 people detained since the failed July 15 putsch. Turkish authorities blame Gulen for the rebellion, which aimed to unseat President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and they are now seeking to erase the reclusive cleric’s influence from all aspects of Turkish life.
But the scale of the crackdown has sparked international alarm, with the EU enlargement commissioner implicitly warning the bloc would freeze Turkey’s accession talks if it violated the rule of law.