Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a news conference following the National Security Council and Cabinet meetings at the Presidential Palace in Ankara on Wednesday. Possibly anticipating investor jitters, Erdogan criticized Standard & Poor’s for downgrading its credit rating for Turkey deeper into “junk” status and said the country would remain financially disciplined.
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About 10,000 people are accused of supporting the coup, and 50,000 or more accused of backing Gulen, Peter says.
Mr Erdogan will then chair a meeting of the cabinet, also at the palace, whose immediate vicinity was bombed during the botched coup bid. The emergency rule was gradually lifted by 2002.
A former ally-turned critic of Erdogan, he suggested the president staged it as an excuse for a crackdown after a steady accumulation of control during 14 years in power.
“I don’t think we have come to the end of it yet”, he had said.
“While it is understandable, and legitimate, that the government wishes to investigate and punish those responsible for this bloody coup attempt, they must abide by the rule of law and respect freedom of expression”, said Amnesty’s Turkey researcher Andrew Gardner.
He praised those who were killed fighting against the coup as “martyrs”.
More than 600 schools have been closed and thousands of state workers sacked in a crackdown by the president. He reiterated the government’s position that the exiled cleric Fehtullah Gülen, who lives in the U.S., is behind the coup attempt. A further 492 people were removed from duty at the Religious Affairs Directorate, 257 at the prime minister’s office and 300 at the energy ministry.
“It was certainly an expression of concern about this group and its presence in Canada, and an invitation for us to work with them on that”.
“There could be”, Erdogan said, asked if other countries could have been involved in the coup in an interview with Al-Jazeera.
On a related matter, Mr Carter said military operations at the air base in Incirlik, Turkey, should be back to normal shortly.
Mr Kerry said that he made clear in several phone calls with Turkey’s foreign minister in recent days that mere allegations of wrongdoing against Fethullah Gulen would not meet U.S. extradition requirements.
At least 24 coup plotters were also killed.
The government has also revoked the press credentials of 34 journalists because of alleged ties to Gulen’s movement, Turkish media reported.
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About 60,000 soldiers, police, judges, civil servants and teachers have been suspended, detained or are under investigation since Friday’s military coup attempt.
