Boss detained in Gülen-linked operation released

KAYSERİ – Doğan News Agency

DHA photo

Memduh Boydak, the general manager of Boydak Holding, was released Sept. 17 along with two businessmen following their detention as a part of an operation targeting a purported terrorist organization on Sept. 16.

Boydak, also an executive board member of the Turkish Industry and Business Association (TÜSİAD), Kayseri Chamber of Commerce speaker Mehmet Filiz and businessman Ahmet Türkmen were released on probation after giving their testimonies.

However, two members of the board of trustees at Melikşah University and businessmen Halit Gazezoğlu and Necmi Sontaş were sent to court for arrest along with Veli Demirci, the general secretary of Melikşah University, and Özcan Karasu, an employee at the university.

Turkish police detained 11 people in the Central Anatolian province of Kayseri, including executives of a group of companies and university officials, as part of an operation targeting a purported terrorist organization, which President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government have long called the “Pro-Fethullah Terror Organization,” which is claimed to be headed by U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.

TÜSİAD had voiced concerns over Boydak’s detainment, saying he was a revered as a reputable businessman.

“We would like to raise concern over the darksome atmosphere threatening the business world perpetually with severe accusations and we urge that these kinds of events should be ended,” TÜSİAD said in a statement.