President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) on July 20, has declared a 3-month state of emergency, causing the dismissal of 50,000 workers and the arrest of 8,000 people after the July 15 failed coup attempt.
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After a coup attempt last week failed to topple him and his government, Erdogan also decreed that suspects can be detained for up to 30 days without charges – a stark change from the previous maximum of four days.
The first decree authorises the closure of 1043 private schools, 1229 charities and foundations, 19 trade unions, 15 universities and 35 medical institutions over suspected links to the Gulen movement, the Anadolu agency said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan repeatedly demanded the extradition of the cleric and the government has filed an official request with the United States for it.
Fethullah Gulen, a former ally of Mr Erdogan, has called on the U.S. government to block Turkey’s attempts to extradite him.
A supporter of the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, waves a Turkish flag bearing a portrait of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, during a “Republic and Democracy Rally” at Taksim square in central Istanbul, Sunday, July 24, 2016.
The state of emergency, and the mechanisms being set up to enforce it, are aimed against US -based cleric Fethullah Gulen.
Following a failed July 15 coup by renegade military units, Turkey has carried out a widespread crackdown on the army, police, judiciary and educational institutions.
Muhammed Sait Gulen was detained in the northeastern Turkish city of Erzurum and will be brought to the capital for questioning, Reuters reported.
At least 283 of the presidential guard regiment members have been detained in the wake of the failed coup.
Erdogan accused Gulen, the exiled Turkish cleric living in the USA, of masterminding last week’s failed coup from the very beginning. President Barack Obama says the US has an extradition process and has encouraged Turkey to present any evidence it has.
Amid the global criticism, Turkey for the first time since the coup released a large group of detainees, 1,200 low-ranking soldiers, saying it wanted to swiftly sort out those who had fired on the people from those who had not.
“They [the coup leaders] were given instructions from Pennsylvania, and now they are starting to confess about it”, Erdogan said.
“There will no longer be a presidential guard, there is no goal, there is no need”, Yildirim said, speaking to A Haber channel.
The president added that more than 10,000 people have been detained so far.
He said the depth of relations between Iran and Turkey became obvious after the futile coup.
Washington says there will need to be clear evidence of Gulen’s involvement in the coup before it can agree to extradite him.
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The official number of those in custody since the Jul 15 putsch has surged above 13,000 soldiers, police, justice officials and civilians in a wave of arrests that has alarmed North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies and European leaders. “I said to him that he needs to make sure that not just he, but everybody in his government understand that those reports are completely false because when rumors like that start swirling around, that puts our people at risk on the ground in Turkey and it threatens what is a critical alliance and partnership between the USA and Turkey”, Obama said.
