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Turkish media reported on Thursday that prominent civil society figure and businessman Osman Kavala was detained late Wednesday at Istanbul's Atatürk Airport upon returning from the southeastern city of Gaziantep.

Kavala has been remanded in custody for seven days ahead of a court hearing, Agence France-Presse news agency reported, citing his lawyer Ferat Cagil. Cagil said the reason for the detention remained unclear purportedly with links to the Gullen movement.

"The case is confidential. Whatever is said would be speculative now. We will find out when he testifies," he said.

To remind, tens of thousands of people have been arrested and many more dismissed from government jobs in Turkey as part of a massive crackdown by the government following last year's failed military coup. The arrests, including those of several Germans, have sparked international concerns about the deterioration of democracy and free speech under increasingly authoritarian President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

To note, Kavala is the chairman of the Anatolian Culture center, which campaigns for rights and cultural diversity including Kurdish issues. He is one of the close friends of the late Armenian journalist Dink’s family and had long advocated for full investigation of the assassination of the journalist.  

Kavala has also been one of the few Turkish intellectuals who visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial complex to pay tribute to the victims of the Armenian Genocide.