Police Search Premises of Turkish Opposition Business Group

Critics denounced the action as a government crackdown on opposition voices ahead of an election on Nov. 1.

Police in Ankara searched 23 companies belonging to Koza Ipek Holding over suspicion of providing financial assistance to the movement led by Fethullah Gulen. It was not clear if any arrest warrants were issued against company officials, according to a report by the Associated Press.

Koza Ipek Holding owns opposition television stations Bugun TV and Kanal Turk as well as Bugun and Millet newspapers, among other business interests.

The operation came hours after Bugun published photographs that it claimed showed the clandestine shipment of materials used to make arms to ISIL militants in Syria, although it was not clear if the police operation was related to the claims. The Associated Press cannot verify the authenticity of the images and Turkey strongly denies accusations that it has aided the ISIL group.

Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the main opposition party, called the police operation an attempt to muzzle dissent.

"We cannot speak of democracy in a country where the media is being silenced," Kilicdaroglu said.

The Koza Ipek group is associated with Gulen's movement, which the government accuses of orchestrating a vast corruption scandal in 2013 with the aim of toppling the regime. Gulen has rejected the accusation that it was behind the scandal that implicated President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's close associates.

The government has dismissed the graft scandal as an attempted coup and has labeled the group a "terrorist organization" although the movement is not known to have been involved in any violent acts.

Hundreds of police and judiciary officials suspected of ties to the movement have been dismissed. In May, Turkey's banking regulator seized a bank associated with the movement.