Turkey freezes assets of hundreds of people, including alleged members of the PKK

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Turkey’s treasury and finance ministry on Wednesday froze the assets of hundreds of alleged members of four “terrorist” organizations, including the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), state media reported.  

The ministry said the assets of 77 alleged ringleaders and high-profile executive members of the PKK were confiscated, according to TRT World. The assets of 205 members of the Service (Hizmet) Movement - including its leader Fethullah Gulen – were also blocked.

There were no further details provided on the identity or the locations of the affected individuals. 

The PKK is an armed group struggling for the increased cultural and political rights of Kurds in Turkey. The Service Movement is accused of orchestrating the failed coup attempt against Gulen’s former ally Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in July 2016.

Eighty-six members of the Islamic State (ISIS) and and nine members of Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), a far-left Marxist organisation, also had their assets frozen. 

 The four organizations are all designated terror organizations by Ankara.   

A court in the capital handed aggravated life sentences to scores of members of Gulen’s movement on the same day, including former commanders of the Turkish army, for “violating the constitutional order” during the 2016 coup attempt, the state-owned Anadolu Agency (AA) reported.