Gulen ‘money man’ back in Turkey from Sudan

ANKARA: Turkish spies working in Sudan have repatriated a businessman accused of links to Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen after he was caught in a joint operation, state media reported Monday.
Memduh Cikmaz is accused of giving millions to the movement run by US-based Gulen, who Ankara claims ordered the July 15, 2016 attempt to end President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s rule.
Cikmaz was captured in a joint operation involving Sudanese intelligence after the Turkish National Intelligence Organisation (MIT) located him two months earlier, security sources told Anadolu news agency. Cikmaz, with business interests in petrol stations and brick factories, was returned to Turkey early on Monday, the agency said. He had gone to Sudan in January 2016 but sources told Anadolu he continued to send millions of dollars to the movement.
Cikmaz was accused of “managing an armed terror organisation” in a previous arrest warrant. Anadolu described him as the Gulen group’s “money vault”.
The agency said MIT had created a special team to locate suspected Gulenists abroad. Turkey refers to Gulen’s group as the “Fethullah Terrorist Organisation” (FETO) but the movement insists it is peaceful and promotes education, denying any terror links.