Since then, speculation has emerged that the coup may have been orchestrated by followers of Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish billionaire preacher who is in self-imposed exile in the United States. The dishonorable discharges included around 40 percent of Turkey’s admirals and generals.
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Authorities issued warrants for the detention of 89 journalists as the clampdown extended to the media.
The Washington Post breaks down the outlets shut down on Wednesday alone: “three news agencies, 16 television channels, 23 radio stations and 45 newspapers”.
“The president said that … he would discuss with opposition parties bringing the General Staff and the MIT (intelligence agency) under the control of the presidency”, the parliamentary official said.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Thursday chaired a top-level military meeting that is likely to lead to a major shake-up within the country’s armed forces following a failed coup by renegade military officers.
Turkish officials have said they believe the coup plot was launched in haste because of the planned August military council meeting, when many officers suspected of links to Gulen would have been discharged.
Both the General Staff and MIT now report to the prime minister’s office. Erdogan calls Gulen’s movement, Hismet, a “cult” and “terrorist organization”.
“My concern has to do with the fact that the actions here are very tough and the principle of proportionality is not always central”, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in Berlin.
These moves, which follow the closure of other media outlets with suspected Gulenist ties as well as the detention of journalists will further stoke concerns among rights groups and Western governments about the scale of Erdogan’s post-coup purges. The military has ousted four governments in the past 60 years.
Before the military council meeting, the prime minister and top brass visited the Ankara mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, modern Turkey’s founder, where they vowed to overcome all security threats.
“There is no doubt that we will eradicate all terrorist organizations threatening our state, our nation and our territorial integrity”, Yildirim said, reading from a message he wrote in the mausoleum visitors’ book.
Late Wednesday, the government issued a decree that transferred control of the paramilitary police force and the coast guard from the military to the government’s Interior Ministry.
Journalist are seen gathered outside a court building to support a colleague who was detained in connection with the investigation launched into the recent failed coup attempt in Turkey, in Istanbul, July 27, 2016. Of those, more than 8,000 were formally arrested pending trial, it said.
The strategically critical U.S.-Turkey relationship is coming under increasing strain as authorities in Ankara crack down on alleged coup plotters and sympathizers. “I can not exclude the possibility that Ankara will recognize Abkhazia, or the possibility that Turkey will seek accession into the SCO and cooperation with the EEU”, the analyst noted.
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Amnesty International has said detainees may have suffered human rights violations, including beatings and rape – an accusation roundly rejected by Ankara.
