Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan vowed on Tuesday to revive plans for an Istanbul park that sparked anti-government protests in 2013, saying a failed coup bid would not stop a series of building projects, risking further polarisation in the country.
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The interior ministry said almost 9,000 people, including nearly 8,000 police but also municipal governors and other officials, had also been dismissed in a widening purge.
Still, Turkey’s cooperation in the fight against Islamic State is of paramount importance to Washington in the uneasy alliance so, as in its dealings with repressive governments from Cairo to Beijing, the Obama administration finds itself trying to balance USA security interests against its human rights and democratic principles.
The purging of thousands of alleged plotters of a failed coup raised tensions Monday between Turkey and the West, with US and European officials urging restraint, while Ankara insisted that Washington extradite an exile accused of orchestrating the plot.
Yildirim said Turkey has sent four files to the United States on Gulen, who denies any involvement and has condemned the coup attempt. He also said he would knock down the historic Ataturk Cultural Centre to build Turkey’s first opera house at Taksim Square, as well as open a mosque.
Addressing hundreds of supporters outside his Istanbul residence early Tuesday, Erdogan responded to calls for the reintroduction of the death penalty with the simple statement: “You can not put aside the people’s demands”. “This is unacceptable in a state governed by rule of law”, Yildirim said after meeting secular opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu. Several European officials have said such a move would be the end of Turkey’s attempts to join.
The reclusive cleric said in an interview with several media outlets including AFP at his compound in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania that he has “no concerns personally” about the extradition request.
The Turkish government says the uprising was masterminded by Fethullah Gülen, a US-based cleric and former Erdogan ally who has a wide following in Turkey.
The violence surrounding the Friday night coup attempt claimed the lives of 210 government supporters and 24 coup plotters, according to the government.
“It is exactly what we feared”, Johannes Hahn said.
Esra Kokcu, accompanied by relatives, was visiting the site where her cousin, Selmani Terzi, was severely wounded and lost a leg in the attack.
“The force of the tanks could not beat the force of the people”, he said.
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“We thank our European friends for their support against the coup, however their sentences starting with “but” did not please us at all”, he said. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the US would follow procedures in a decades-old extradition treaty and called Turkish charges that the USA was harboring Gulen “factually incorrect”. “I want to ask our friends in the USA, did you ask for proof when you demanded the terrorists after the Twin Towers fell on September 11?”
