Gulen, who’s in his mid-70s, denounced the coup attempt and said he had no role in it.
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According to the Associated Press, Turkish intelligence sources say they have proof that Gulen participated in the coup.
The U.S. works with Turkey on multiple crises in the recent. The state-run Anadolu news agency in Turkey reported Wednesday, two days before the attempted coup, that prosecutors in Ankara were preparing to seek Gulen’s extradition from the USA, accusing him of trying to infiltrate and overthrow the government.
The prime minister’s statement was followed by a statement aired on state TV that the army has assumed power over the country to protect the democratic order and maintain human rights. The consulate warned USA citizens to avoid the area.
The base is home to the Turkish Air Force and the U.S. Air Force’s 39th Air Base Wing, which includes about 1,500 American personnel, according to the base website.
Lastly, this is not only a test for Turkey but also for the West, which has the obligation to stand by fellow democracies and nations. Blasts rang out, leaving stunned residents wondering what was going on. She said the military imposed martial law.
Turkish troops said on Friday they had seized power but President Tayyip Erdogan vowed that the attempted coup would be put down and crowds answered his call to defy a curfew order and take to the streets to support him.
By Saturday morning Erdogan claimed the government was in full control of the country, although the situation appeared chaotic and uncertain. It said the building was damaged.
Turkey’s parliament, which had been targeted by coup plotters and received extensive damage, was meanwhile holding an extraordinary session, broadcast live on television, while special forces were reportedly securing the headquarters of the military chief of staff. This government brought to power by the people is in charge.
Later, he tweeted that Greece agreed to return the “traitors” as soon as possible. On June 28, 41 people died and another 239 were wounded when suicide bombers attacked Istanbul’s Ataturk airport. The helicopter landed after issuing a distress signal regarding a mechanical failure, she added.
There were reports of clashes in Istanbul’s Taksim Square, and gunfire and explosions heard near the square. This action is a coup against the nation, commandeering armored vehicles and weapons in Ankara and Istanbul, behaving as if it were the 1970s.
Instanbul: He weathered anti-government protests that lasted for months in 2013.
He said he could see tracer rounds zip through the air.
He explained that the reasons for the coup included “one of the latest developments that has been the bill redesigning the high courts as well as Erdogan’s refusal to be impartial”. “I am calling on our people now to come to the arenas and we will give them the necessary answer”.
He said those involved will be dealt with.
This time the country put on more of a show of solidarity, with even the three opposition parties in parliament swiftly condemning the attempted putsch.
Turkish budget carrier Pegasus said its flights were also experiencing minor delays.
Dramatic images showed dozens of soldiers walking away from their tanks with their hands up on one of Istanbul’s Bosphorus bridges, after they had closed it off to traffic all night.
Erdogan called the attempted coup “treason” and took to task the forces he apparently suspects of masterminding it.
But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government is blaming the chaos on the cleric, who lives in exile in Pennsylvania and promotes a philosophy that blends a mystical form of Islam with staunch advocacy of democracy, education, science and interfaith dialogue.
From his estate in the Poconos outside the village of Saylorsburg, Pa., Gulen – who is at the helm of a broad religious network that includes hundreds of schools across the world that promote a moderate version of Islam – denied any complicity in the takeover attempt.
In 1997, senior army officers pressured then-Prime Minister Necmeddin Erbakan to step down because he advocated for strengthening Islamism across Turkey and turning away from the West. Erdogan, an Erbakan supporter who was then mayor of Istanbul, was arrested and banned from pursuing a political career for five years for reading out a nationalist and Islamist poem in public at the time.
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The West sees Turkey as part of the solution in the Middle East.
