Turkish man abducted by gunmen at toll station in Edirne: wife

Salim Zeybek, a Turkish businessman, was abducted by a group of gunmen in Edirne province on the night of February 21, 2019, according to several tweets posted by a twitter account claiming to be his wife.

“I am Fatma Betül Zeybek. My husband, Salim Zeybek was kidnapped on Thursday night, 21 February 2019, by a group of gunmen at Edirne Havsa toll station,” the twitter account tweeted.

According to Turkish journalist Cevheri Güven, Zeybek was abducted by the Turkish Intelligence (MIT) over his alleged links to Turkey’s Gülen group, which is accused of masterminding a coup attempt on July 15, 2016.

The group denies any involvement.

More than 20 people reported abducted since 2016 failed coup

Mysterious disappearances involving already-victimized opposition groups have become a common occurrence in Turkey in the aftermath of a July 15 coup attempt.

At least twenty people were alleged have been abducted so far. Previously, three teachers, a lawyer, a university employee, two intelligence agency officials, an Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTİK) employee and a Competition Authority employee have been reported while one of the teachers was handed over by unidentified men to police after spending 42 days out of sight. Also, an Ankara man named Sunay Elmas is reported to have been abducted, but this particular case took place on Jan. 27, 2016.

Those not seen for quite some time mostly have in common in their personal histories that they have lost their jobs amid a sweeping crackdown that the Turkish government has conducted against its critics, particularly members of the Gülen movement.

Turkish government accuses the movement of masterminding the July 15, 2016 coup attempt while the latter denies. More than 150,000 people have lost their jobs, some 130,000 have been detained and 60,000 of them were remanded in prison pending trial over Gulen ties so far..