On Saturday night, Erdogan also called the parliament speaker and the two main opposition party leaders, Republican People’s Party (CHP) Chairman Kemal Kilicdaroglu and National Movement Party (MHP) Chairman Devlet Bahceli, to thank them “for not giving credit to the coup attempt”.
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Secretary of State John Kerry called his Turkish opposite number Saturday to offer U.S. support in the wake of a failed coup but also to protest claims Washington had backed it. Well past midnight, supporters of Erdogan’s government were celebrating in city centres that had been engulfed in bloody gun battles and airstrikes the previous night.
A successful overthrow of Erdogan, who has ruled the country since 2003, would have marked another seismic shift in the Middle East, five years after the Arab uprisings erupted and plunged Turkey’s southern neighbour Syria into civil war. He has shaken up the government, cracked down on dissidents, restricted the news media and renewed fighting with Kurdish rebels.
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said the perpetrators of Friday’s failed coup “will receive every punishment they deserve”, and the government said it would take steps toward extraditing a U.S.-based cleric it accused of fomenting the uprising. “They will pay a heavy price”.
He told reporters in the United States that he did not believe democracy could be maintained through military action or violence. “Erdogan tried him in Absentia, has wanted him extradited to Turkey”.
At a news conference Saturday in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, Gulen strongly denied any role in or knowledge of the coup.
Kerry said the United States was willing to help Turkey as it tries to identify those involved in the coup attempt, but made clear it would only act if there was evidence against Gulen. They include senior figures like Erdal Ozturk, commander of the third army and the commander of the Malatya-based second army, Adem Huduti. All parliamentary parties condemned the putsch attempt and foreign governments lined up behind the civilian cabinet. He said Turkey would resume operations with the U.S.-led coalition once the anti-coup operations were completed.
“Obama, make him go!” and “The nation is here, where are the traitors”, the crowd chanted through a megaphone. “He has yet again proven his invincibility”.
More than 270 members of the judiciary in Istanbul were held Saturday in connection to a failed coup attempt. It also threatens to unbalance an economy that’s dependent on foreign capital flows to offset an entrenched trade deficit.
“We are here for democracy, so the country lasts”, retired soldier Nusret Tuzak said in Ankara. Trading in stocks and bonds had already halted for the day. That was unusual, especially in front of visiting foreigners, he said.
Erdogan has long accused Gulen, a former ally, of trying to overthrow the government, but Washington has never found the claims compelling.
The back-and-forth occurred against the backdrop of Turkey closing its airspace, effectively grounding USA warplanes that had been targeting Islamic State forces in neighboring Syria and Iraq.
A prolonged reckoning with the Gulenists may undermine Turkey’s ability to perform those roles, and also dim the prospects for investors.
In the United States, a lawyer hired by the Turkish government has lodged numerous accusations against a network of about 150 publicly funded charter schools started by followers of Gulen, whose philosophy blends a mystical form of Islam with staunch advocacy of democracy, education, science and interfaith dialogue.
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State broadcaster TRT said the military had declared martial law and a curfew, in a statement signed by a group calling itself the “Council for Peace in the Homeland”.
