Ankara says the coup was masterminded by US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen and the massive crackdown appears to be targeting individuals suspected of any connection to Mr Erdogan’s ally-turned-foe.
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“We still can not confirm the physical receipt of an extradition request, we’re in touch with Turkish officials”, the official told Reuters, adding: “They have indicated they will hand it over”.
Turkey’s president has declared a three-month state of emergency in response to Friday’s failed coup d’etat.
Pro-Erdogan supporters gather in front of the president’s residence at Kisikli Neighborhood in Istanbul after the failed coup attempt.
Turkey has stepped up pressure on Washington to extradite him, sending several “dossiers” it says are packed with evidence about his alleged involvement.
Ahead of Wednesday’s meetings, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim thanked the Kurdish political party HDP, or People’s Democratic Party, for opposing the failed military putsch on the weekend. “Only in European Union countries is there no capital punishment”, Erdogan said.
A Greek court has sentenced eight Turkish military personnel who fled to Greece aboard a helicopter during an attempted coup in their country to two months in prison on charges of illegal entry into Greece.
“Everyone I talk to is incredibly distressed”, said Clare Robinson, the advocacy director for the Scholars at Risk Network.
The tensions in the U.S.-Turkey relationship go much deeper than the issue of Gulen’s alleged role in the coup and the demand for his extradition.
“Coups are not a good thing”, Trudeau said in French when asked about Turkey at an Ottawa-area event.
The state of emergency will allow the government to take swift and effective measures against supporters of the coup, he said.
Gulen, who lives in the United States, previously said any attempt to overthrow the country “is a betrayal to our unity and is treason”.
Yet – and here comes the really interesting part – Gulen and Erdogan were de facto allies for years in a mutual effort to weaken the Turkish army and introduce a more religious climate into officially secular Turkey.
Steinmeier said Thursday that it’s important that “the rule of law, a sense of proportion and commensurability are preserved” and that it’s in Turkey’s interest to “keep the state of emergency only for the duration that is absolutely necessary and then immediately end it”. A satirical magazine, Leman, said authorities blocked the distribution of a special edition over its cover featuring a caricature in which two mysterious hands play a game of strategy, one pushing soldiers onto the board and the other responding by sending civilians.
The United States is urging Turkey to exercise restraint and act within the rule of law as it investigates last week’s failed coup, amid conflicting reports about whether a former Air Force commander confessed to being a ringleader of the attempted takeover.
The coup has led to public anger and calls for the government to reinstate the death penalty, a demand that Erdogan has said he will consider.
Austria, meahwhile, summoned Turkey’s ambassador and questioned him about the country’s future. “In one fell swoop it’s a hollowing out of the state as a whole”, she said – a purging of people in the military, the police, the judiciary, the prosecutorial ranks and at educational institutions, possibly to fill the ranks with AKP loyalists.
It’s understandable that Erdogan would arrest participants in Friday’s uprising by a group of military officers that claimed to be rescuing the country from Erdogan’s oppression.
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The Turkish interior ministry dismissed nearly 9,000 police officers on Monday as part of a purge of officials suspected of involvement in the coup attempt.
