“It is the Turkish people’s call and the parliament’s right to decide whether to pass the law of death penalty”, Erdogan said. The number of people fired from Turkish institutions is now approaching 70,000 since the coup, and more than 10,000 have been arrested.
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Erdogan and the government have accused the Muslim Pennsylvania-based cleric Fethullah Gulen of orchestrating the coup attempt, and demanded his extradition from the US.
Erdogan, whose Justice and Development Party won a comfortable victory in elections last November, has hailed his defeat of the coup as a triumph of democracy.
Academics were banned from traveling overseas on Wednesday in what a Turkish official said was a temporary measure to prevent the risk of alleged coup plotters in universities from fleeing.
“Please don’t send us allegations, send us evidence”, Kerry said recently on the phone with Cavosoglu.
Turkish former Air Force Commander Gen.
Clauses about “political offences” are widespread in extradition treaties, and the idea behind them was to protect people “who justly fought back against their government oppressors to secure political change”, US Circuit Judge Karen Williams said in a 2007 ruling about an extradition to Peru.
Erdogan said Turkey submitted all evidence to the US regarding Gulen’s extradition and Ankara now awaits a decision from Washington.
Yildirim said the justice ministry had sent a dossier to US authorities on Gulen, whose religious movement blends conservative Islamic values with a pro-Western outlook and who has a network of supporters within Turkey.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday he is preoccupied with the state of Turkey’s democracy, and that has been communicated to the government.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday declared a three-month state of emergency, vowing to hunt down the “terrorist” group behind last week’s bloody coup attempt.
Turkey’s military also announced on Wednesday that it had resumed cross-border strikes against Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq, killing about 20 alleged militants.
Mr Erdogan has warned of further arrests, sackings and suspensions as part of a far-reaching crackdown by Turkish authorities on those suspected of involvement in the coup.
It said the vast majority of its members had nothing to do with Friday’s plot and that the “traitors” would be punished severely for the “humiliation and disgrace” of the Turkish republic.
“We support the democratic government”.
“The armed forces … will act in unison with the government”, Erdogan said, hinting that civil control of the military – long a subject of debate in Turkey – could be expanded.
But European leaders say talks on Turkey’s bid to join the EU would end if Ankara restores the death penalty.
Turkey has experienced two full-scale coups since 1960, and the military has intervened in other ways to push elected governments out of power.
U.S. President Barack Obama has offered to aid in the investigation of last week’s attempted coup. Even if approved by a judge, it would still have to go to Secretary of State John Kerry, who can consider non-legal factors, such as humanitarian arguments.
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Regarding claims of a lack of freedom of the press in Turkey, Erdogan said he has never been anti-media but freedom of expression should never be a weapon. “The command did not know about them because there were lots of Gullen supporters at the Turkish Intelligence Organization”, Mutercimler said.
