“Turkey has detained about 6,000 people in a government crackdown on alleged coup plotters and government opponents, the Justice Ministry announced Sunday”.
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More than 6,000 have been detained so far due to their involvement in the failed coup, Xinhua news agency quoted the statement as saying.
“I don’t believe the USA will honor a request that is based on the enmity of a regime, which is recognized as dictatorial and has lost all of its credibility in the eyes of the world”, Mr. Gulen said from his home in rural Pennsylvania, where he has lived in self-imposed exile since 1999.
Akin Ozturk, a former commander of Turkey’s Air Force, was among detainees pictured with his ear bandaged.
For the third straight night, thousands of Turks have flooded into the streets of Ankara and Istanbul in Turkey, to show their support for President Tayyip Erdogan.
“This is not a blank cheque for Erdogan”, he said of backing against the coup.
At a news conference on Saturday in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, Mr Gulen denied any role in or knowledge of the coup.
With the plot seemingly already undone, European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini followed up to urge “a swift return to Turkey’s constitutional order with its checks and balances and … fundamental freedoms”.
According to CNN, thousands of soldiers have been arrested and hundreds of judiciary members removed since Friday’s uprising, which left at least 290 people dead and more than 1,400 injured in a chaotic night of violence.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said the coup had failed and life has returned to normal.
Nicola Sturgeon say’s she has a veto over BrexitThe picture is reported to have been taken at a basketball court in Sirnak, eastern Turkey, while Government loyalists watch over them. “They will pay a heavy price for this”, he said.
Among those arrested are 29 of the country’s top generals, including Erdogan’s top military aide Col Ali Yazici.
The Turkish leader also said on Sunday that he might move to reinstate capital punishment – abolished in 2004 as the country made efforts to join the EU.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States would entertain an extradition request for Gulen, but Turkey would have to present “legitimate evidence that withstands scrutiny”.
Soldiers suspected of being involved in the coup attempt are escorted by policemen as they arrive at a courthouse in the resort town of Marmaris, Turkey, July 17, 2016.
However, U.S. facilities at the Incirlik base were still operating on internal power sources after Turkey cut the mains power supply.
Mr Erdogan’s survival has turned him into a “sort of a mythical figure” and could further erode democracy in Turkey, said Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish research program at The Washington Institute.
The putsch attempt led to a temporary halt to air operations by the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State group in neighboring Syria and Iraq from Turkey’s Incerlik air base, but the Pentagon said Sunday that Turkey has reopened its airspace.
The arrests included high-ranking military officers and 2,700 judges.
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Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu “requested the immediate surrender of the eight traitor soldiers”, adding “they will expedite the extradition process”. Gulen’s influence in Turkey had spread years ago to the nation’s largest media organisations and deep within law enforcement.
