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Erdogan Set to Launch New Measures as Part of Post-Coup Crackdown

It was earlier reported that the Turkish government believed Gulen, the founder of the Hizmet movement, was behind the failed military coup attempt.

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Turkey’s National Security Council is holding an emergency meeting following a coup attempt last week that was derailed by security forces and protesters loyal to the government.

Turkey’s former European Union Minister Beril Dedeoglu also said that the Western media tried to focus attention on the Turkish government rather than the coup plotters.

It was necessary, Erdogan said, to enable the state to “take the most efficient steps in order to remove this threat as soon as possible, which is a threat to democracy, to the rule of law, and to the rights and freedoms of citizens in our country”.

Erdogan and other Turkish officials have blamed the attempted coup of Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, 77, who lives in Pennsylvania and runs a chain of charter schools around the United States.

Thousands of officials suspected of links to US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen – who the government blames for the coup – have also been purged from the judiciary and Interior Ministry.

For his part, Erdogan said Turkey is determined to cooperate with Iran and Russian Federation to restore peace and stability to the region. “The lists are available, which indicates it was prepared and to be used at a certain stage”, Mr Hahn said.

“In a country where our youths are killed with tanks and bombs, if we stay silent, as political people we will be held responsible in the afterlife”, Erdogan said, pointing out that capital punishment exists in several countries around the world, including the United States and China.

Anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks has released almost 300,000 emails linked to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AKP party, with Turkey immediately blocking access on Wednesday. US State Secretary John Kerry said on Monday that Ankara should provide proof of Gulen’s involvement in the coup attempt.

“Nearly every day we are seeing new measures that flout the rule of law and that disregard the principle of proportionality. We will present them with more evidence than they want”, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told parliament, according to AFP.

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Kalin said the coup attempt was carried out by a tiny fraction of the army and would not affect Turkey’s fight against Islamic State or Kurdish militants.

Fethullah Gulen