Trustees appointed to Gülen-linked firm

ISTANBUL

DHA photo

A board of trustees has been appointed to run a Turkish broadcasting company and publishing houses over “strong evidence” of links to the to the Gülen Movement, the followers of U.S. based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.

The trustees were appointed to run FIA by a court in Istanbul. The central allegation against the company, and the publishing branches of Feza Publications in Ankara, İzmir, Adana and Trabzon is that they support the movement of Gülen, which prosecutors argue is a terrorist organization.

According to court papers, FIA was allegedly set up by the staff of Feza Publications, a media conglomerate closely associated with Gülen. Earlier this month, Feza, which had published daily newspapers Zaman and Today’s Zaman as well as running the Cihan News Agency, was taken over by court-appointed trustees.      

It is alleged that broadcasting equipment has been transferred from Cihan to FIA without payment and that the equipment would be used to support the movement, which is referred to in indictments as the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ) or the “parallel state.”      

The court also says the ownership of publishing houses across Turkey that had previously belonged to Feza had been repeatedly transferred to prevent their assets falling into the hands of trustees.