Ankara has demanded that the US extradite Gulen, but Washington insists on “concrete evidence” linking Gulen to the July 15 coup attempt as a precondition for his extradition. The United States has told Turkey to present evidence against him and let the US extradition process take its course.
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People walk on Galata bridge next to a giant Turkish national flag at Eminonu district on July 26, 2016 in Istanbul, following the failed military coup attempt of July 15. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the death toll as a result of the military coup attempt stood at 246 people excluding the coup plotters and over 2,000 people were wounded.
The Turkish army said 8,651 of its military personnel had been involved in the coup, 1.5 percent of its total number.
Its clampdown seeks to target anyone suspected of ties to USA -based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom the government accuses of masterminding the plot.
Cavusoglu warned allies that relations would sour if they refuse to cooperate with Turkey’s extradition requests. Islamic opposition figurehead Fethullah Gulen could have left the United States for a number of countries, except Egypt, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told CNN Turk television channel on Thursday.
Energy Minister Berat Albayrak, who is Erdogan’s son-in-law, said a major army shake-up had been planned just before the putsch – suggesting elements in the military made the dramatic move because they knew they were about to be purged.
The foreign minister said anti-U.S. sentiment in Turkey was on the rise and a refusal to extradite Gulen would harm relations.
“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. “It would have been a totally different Turkey”, said Bozdag.
The military council meeting had been scheduled for early August but was brought forward following the coup attempt.
The hastily-convened meeting came after the government ordered the discharge of 149 generals – almost half of the armed forces’ entire contingent of 358 – for alleged complicity in the putsch bid.
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Since the coup the military has already lost control of the coastguard and gendarmerie, which will now be the responsibility of the interior ministry.
