21 members of religious Furkan Foundation, including head, detained in Turkey’s Adana

ADANA - Doğan News Agency

Some 21 members of the religious Furkan Foundation, including its founder Alparslan Kuytul, were detained on Jan. 30 in the southern province of Adana on charges of “disturbing public order” and “establishing a criminal organization.” 

The police detained 21 members of the Furkan Foundation, including Kuytul, in dawn raids in Adana, as part of an ongoing investigation launched by the Adana Chief Prosecutor’s Office. 

Units from the police’s anti-terror and anti-smuggling and organized crime departments raided the headquarters of the foundation and home addresses of its members in the early hours of Jan. 30, forcing open its doors and storming the premises. 

The police also launched operations against the foundation’s branches in the Central Anatolian province of Niğde and the eastern province of Elazığ. 

During the searches, police seized a large sum of money from the foundation headquarters, while cybercrime units also searched the IT room in the building. 

Following the operations, the Adana Governor’s Office banned all public protests against the operation targeting the Furkan Foundation.

The foundation has operated in Turkey for a number of years but its name hit headlines in August 2017 when a suspected Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militant from Russia was detained for planning a drone attack on U.S. aircraft at the İncirlik air base in Adana.

In August 2017, Russian national Renat Bakiev testified that he attended meetings at the Furkan Foundation during his stay in Adana. 

Bakiyev reportedly said “they [the Furkan Foundation] defended the caliphate, which is why he attended the talks there and listed to speeches delivered by Kuytul.”

He was also accused of planning an attack on an Alevi association in the city and was detained while he was scouting around İncirlik before a planned attack on the base.