Mogherini’s fellow European Union commissioner, Johannes Hahn, who is dealing with Turkey’s membership request, said he had the impression that the government had prepared lists of those such as judges to be arrested even before the coup took place.
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Anadolu said Erdogan ordered the overnight patrol by F-16s “for the control of the airspace and security” after a faction within the military launched the attempted coup.
Air force brigadier general Bekir Ercan Van was also detained at the key Incirlik air base used by U.S. forces for raids in Syria, along with a dozen lower-ranked officers. Gen. Akin Ozturk, described as the ringleader of Friday’s foiled uprising, is among them.
The 6,000 arrests include senior aides and senior members of the military. At least 265 people were killed on Friday, and more than half of the victims were reportedly civilians. The president has claimed the coup was directed by Fethullah Gülen, an Islamic cleric exiled in the U.S.
At a news conference on Saturday in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, Mr Gulen strongly denied any role in or knowledge of the coup.
Meanwhile, signs of testy relations between Turkey’s embattled government and the United States continued on Sunday, as Secretary of State John Kerry denounced any suggestion of American involvement in Friday’s coup.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman said if Turkey reinstates the death penalty it would lead to the suspension of its accession talks to join the EU.
On Sunday, speaking at a funeral on Sunday held for some of those killed during gunfire – including the brother of his chief adviser, Mustafa Varank – Erdogan said he did not rule out bringing back the death penalty for the coup’s perpetrators.
On Monday, Turkish prosecutors began questioning 27 generals and admirals.
Minister of Agriculture Faruk Celik told a crowd gathered in Ankara, “To those who want to drag us into chaos by causing trouble and staging a coup, you should know nobody has succeeded in that and neither will you. Any changes in economic indices are normal and no different from fluctuations recorded on normal days”, Binali Yildirim told reporters in Ankara.
While they illustrated the deepening frustration with his government’s response to the failed coup, which has even included allegations by Turkish government ministers of US complicity in the violence.
She said there would be no excuse for any steps that would take Turkey away from the rule of law and that the foreign ministers would be sending a “strong message” on that. Gulen encouraged his many followers to support Erdogan, who in turn helped raise the profile of Gulen, who runs a vast network of Islamic schools worldwide, including more than 100 charter schools in the United States.
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In a statement sent to Xinhua, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (GNAT) praised “the united stance and language of all political party groups at the Parliament in countering this attempt”, vowing to “make those who have attacked the nation and its sovereignty to pay a heavy price”.
