Turkey freezes assets of 770 people for alleged terror links

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey froze the assets of 770 Turkish nationals and a Chicago-based foundation, according to a decision published Friday in the country’s official gazette.

The list of targets includes 454 people with alleged links to Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who lives in the United States. The Turkish government accuses Gulen and his network of being behind a bloody coup attempt in 2016. Gulen has denied the allegation.

Gulen is the honorary president of the Chicago foundation that had its assets in Turkey frozen. The Niagara Foundation’s parent organization, the Alliance for Shared Values, is a nonprofit of the Gulen movement, which Turkey designated as a terror group.

The list published Friday shows 119 other people had assets frozen for links to the Islamic State group, Al-Qaeda, the al-Nusra Front and other alleged “terror groups that abuse religion.”

Another 108 people were targeted for alleged links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party or PKK, which is designated a terror group by Turkey and the United States.

Eighty-nine people with alleged links to leftist groups designated as terror organizations were also listed in the ruling.

The decision was signed by Turkey’s interior, treasury and finance ministers.