Turkey seized 879 companies since failed coup, worth 40.3 billion lira - state fund

Broken trees are pictured outside the destroyed parliament building in Ankara, July 16, 2016 after an attempted coup in Turkey. REUTERS/Stringer/Files

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish authorities seized or appointed an administrator to a total of 879 companies worth 40.3 billion lira ($11.32 billion) in assets in the eight months since the failed coup last July, the state fund that runs the firms said on Wednesday. According to a quarterly report by Turkey's Savings and Deposits Insurance Fund (TMSF), nearly 45,000 people were working in the seized companies. It added that a total of 147 media companies were shut down within the same period. Turkey has taken control of a bank, several media firms and other enterprises as part of a crackdown on companies it suspects of links to sympathisers of Fethullah Gulen, the U.S.-based cleric the government blamed for the July 15 failed putsch. ($1 = 3.5610 liras) (Reporting by Behiye Selin Taner; Writing by Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Dominic Evans)