The Ankara Chief Prosecutor's Office has prepared an indictment against nine shareholders of the popular Turkish doner chain “Maydonoz doner“, seeking up to 25 years in prison for each of them for alleged ties to the so-called Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETO), TRT Haber reports, BTA reported.
In March this year The "Maydonoz Döner" chain, which includes several hundred restaurants in Turkey, Germany, the United States, Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands, Georgia and Azerbaijan, was suspected of financing the organization that Ankara blames for the 2016 coup attempt. At that time, Turkish authorities arrested over 300 suspects, and the company "Somca Gıda" (Somca Gıda) - the company that operated the "Maydonoz Döner" chain - was was placed under the control of the state-owned Savings Deposit Guarantee Fund (TMSF).
According to the indictment of the prosecutor's office, the nine shareholders are accused not only of financing FETO's activities, but also of being members of the organization and maintaining contacts with its members.
According to the Turkish Ministry of Justice, since 2016, more than 126,000 people have been convicted on charges of ties to FETO, with more than 11,000 of them still in prison. Court proceedings are ongoing for more than 24,000 individuals, and another 58,000 remain under active investigation almost a decade after the coup attempt.