NPR’s Leila Fadel tells our Newscast unit that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quick to blame the influential cleric.
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President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Fethullah Gulen, a long-time resident of the US state of Pennsylvania, of orchestrating the July 15 abortive coup in which over 200 people were killed.
Under the U.S. -Turkey extradition agreement, Washington can only extradite a person if he or she has committed an “extraditable act”.
Erdogan said the state of emergency, which would last three months, would allow his government to take swift and effective measures against supporters of the coup and was allowed under the constitution.
US Republican Party presidential nominee Donald Trump has praised Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his handling of last week’s failed coup.
Erdogan accuses Fethullah Gulen, a charismatic USA -based cleric, of masterminding the plot, which crumbled early on Saturday. 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.
A spokesman for the Turkish government said the United States should be able to extradite the cleric “on grounds of suspicion” rather than requiring specific facts about the case against him.
“That is really the primary goal. that these people, who have been involved in this coup attempt, and who killed people, murdered people basically on the street, will be put on trial without any chance of coming back to the state bureaucracy again”.
Around a third of Turkey’s roughly 360 serving generals have been detained since the coup attempt, a second senior official said, with 99 charged pending trial and 14 more being held. He also said on Twitter they would be “market-friendly” and would prioritize structural reform.
Erdogan’s government said it has fired almost 22,000 education ministry workers, mostly teachers, taken steps to revoke the licenses of 21,000 other teachers at private schools and sacked or detained half a dozen university presidents in a campaign to root out alleged supporters of a USA -based Muslim cleric blamed for the botched insurrection on Friday. Gulen vehemently denies the charge.
Erdogan’s suggestion the death penalty could be reinstated has also sent shudders through Europe, with the European Union warning such a move would be the nail in the coffin of Turkey’s already embattled bid to join the bloc.
In a statement, High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said the mass suspension or removal of judges was “cause for serious alarm”.
The U.S. criticized the coup attempt as it was unfolding, with Obama calling on all parties to “support the democratically elected government of Turkey”.
The government will use its enhanced powers in the interests of democracy, and “there will be no restrictions on rights and freedoms”, Erdogan told a rally on Wednesday night.
Thousands of officials suspected of links to Gulen, meanwhile, were purged from the judiciary and the Interior Ministry.
But it said the vast majority of its forces had nothing to do with Friday’s plot.
It has revived talks of the death penalty, imposed media restrictions, blocked websites and placed a ban on academics leaving the country.
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Ms Thornberry questioned how many Britons were arrested as a result of the coup and asked for advice for travellers heading to Turkey.
