A reclusive Islamic cleric living in the Poconos was thrust onto the world stage Saturday when Turkey’s president accused him of executing a failed overthrow of the Turkish government.
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For several hours overnight on Friday violence shook Turkey’s two main cities, as the armed faction which tried to seize power blocked a bridge in Istanbul and strafed the headquarters of Turkish intelligence and parliament in Ankara. During a video call broadcasted live on television, Erdogan invited his voters to defy the ban and come out in the streets against the military.
As many as 161 civilians have been killed, alongside 104 suspected coup plotters.
Almost 3,000 soldiers have been detained and some 2,700 judges were sacked on Saturday as the government sought to re-assert its power. The state-run Anadolu news agency said more than 1,100 were wounded.
In 2014, a Turkish court issued a warrant against Gulen, whom Erdogan accused of running a “parallel state”.
2,745 Turkish judges were dismissed from their posts and 2,839 soldiers arrested, ranging from the lowest ranks to senior officers. Prime Minister said Turkey has already delivered its request of extradition for Gülen.
Kerry reiterated US support for the democratically elected government in Turkey, a statement from the US State Department said. “And the United States will accept that and look at it and make judgments about it appropriately”.
Still, Gulen condemned the coup plot and said democracy in Turkey could not be achieved using military action.
Speaking at an impromptu news conference from his home in the remote village of Saylorsburg, in eastern Pennsylvania, Fethullah Gulen stressed that he left Turkey 15 years ago and no longer knew who his supporters were in the country, but that he was unaware of any role in the coup attempt Friday by his followers.
Turkey’s Labour Minister Suleyman Soylu suggested on Saturday that the United States had been behind the coup – an allegations that received a strong rebuke from Mr Kerry.
Why did coup happen? You didn’t listen. I call you on you again, after the coup attempt – extradite this man from Pennsylvania to Turkey.
President Erdogan and his AK Party have become experts at winning elections, but there have always been doubts about his long-term commitment to democracy.
The chaos capped a period of political turmoil in Turkey which critics blamed on Erdogan’s increasingly authoritarian rule, which has included a government shake-up, a crackdown on dissidents and opposition media and renewed conflict in the mainly Kurdish areas of the southeast.
The coup failed after crowds took the street to defend Erdogan and the government after appeals by the authorities, including Erdogan himself, to do so. Turkey is a principal backer of opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad in that country’s civil war, and hosts 2 million Syrian refugees.
The exchange comes against the backdrop of Turkey closing its airspace, effectively grounding USA fighter jets that have been targeting Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) forces in neighbouring Syria and Iraq.
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That has caused a lot of disquiet.
