A top Turkish official on Friday accused the United States of “standing up for savages” by not immediately handing over a US -based Muslim cleric who the government claims orchestrated last week’s failed coup.
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Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told private broadcaster NTV that Turkey expected to complete within 10 days a dossier requesting Gulen’s extradition from the United States.
Strains have grown with the USA, which relies on Turkish bases to launch airstrikes against ISIS in Syria and Iraq.
People take streets in Ankara, Turkey during a protest against a military coup on July 16, 2016.
Turkey has imposed a three-month state of emergency and detained or dismissed tens of thousands of people in the military, the judiciary, the education system and other institutions. In the latest measures, the government revoked almost 11,000 passports and detained 283 members of the presidential guard, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
Turkey’s government has repeatedly said the deadly plot on July 15, which martyred at least 246 people and injured more than 2,100 others, was organized by followers of USA -based preacher Fetullah Gulen.
He rejected the European criticism of his iron-fisted response to the coup, charging that “they are biased, they are prejudiced, and they will continue to act in this prejudiced manner towards Turkey”.
“Stop standing up for savages who run over citizens with tanks, who strafe people from land and the air”, Yildirim said.
The government also shut down over 2,000 institutions linked to the cleric Fethullah Gulen, Edogan’s longtime rival who has been in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999. All groups in the legislature denounced the coup attempt, though some argued that the state of emergency wasn’t necessary given that the government had initiated the purge without it.
“I said that to President Erdogan”. State Department spokesman John Kirby said Thursday the USA has offered to send a team to Turkey, or host a Turkish delegation, to assist the processing of the request.
Obama also echoed comments by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that Turkey must present evidence if it wants Gulen to be extradited.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said when he meets Mr. Simsek this weekend he’ll express “the great concern in Germany and everywhere in Europe that what is happening in Turkey is not in line with what we understand as democracy and the rule of law”.
Gulen sought to reassure his followers in a sermon posted on his movement’s main website.
He was referring to Erdogan’s statement that he would consider calls for the reintroduction of the death penalty for use against the coup plotters.
Additionally, civil servants can only travel overseas if they have written approval from their supervisors, the Anadolu agency reported.
Diplomats and most citizens who don’t work for the government are not affected by the travel restriction.
This war of words is unlikely to die away and Turkish leaders are angered by what they see as a tepid display of solidarity by Western leaders during the coup – followed by patronising admonitions not to over-react in purging those who tried to overthrow the government. “This is happening in real time in Turkey”.
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Responding to a question, the US President said he had said this in his recent conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also.
