Announcing the emergency rule, the Turkish president said that it was the most suitable and required measurement to identify and punish all those who had committed high treason by attempting a coup against his government.
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Asked if Erdogan was exploiting the coup attempt to get rid of his enemies, Trump said “I don’t think we have a right to lecture”.
Erdogan has claimed the threat from the coup “is not over” and urged his supporters to “work during the day, and come to the square at night”.
Kerry said Wednesday that he made clear in several phone calls with Turkey’s foreign minister in recent days that mere allegations of wrongdoing against Fethullah Gulen would not meet US extradition requirements.
The Turkish government has laid the blame for the coup on a movement led by USA -based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen.
Separately, Turkey’s Ministry of National Education today dismissed 15,200 education personnel over alleged involvement with the coup, though it is unclear whether the employees have been permanently fired from office.
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.
Turkey has also cut access to WikiLeaks hours after the leaking of thousands of e-mails from Erdogan’s ruling party – many of which were sent in the run-up to the coup attempt.
Referring to the recent criticism by Western countries of his government’s vast crackdown after the failed coup, he said the West had no rights to criticize him for imposing emergency. He didn’t specify exactly what the state of emergency would entail.
Turkey will follow France’s example in suspending temporarily the European Convention on Human Rights following its declaration of a state of emergency, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said on Thursday, according to broadcaster NTV.
Erdogan also said there could be a link between Gulen movement and the pilots who shot down Russian jet in November a year ago.
The agency later said Erdogan’s Air Force adviser, Lieutenant Colonel Erkan Kivrak, had been detained at a hotel in the Serik district of Turkey’s southern province of Antalya.
Turkey had abolished the death penalty in 2004 in hopes of locking down its membership in the European Union. But Erdogan and his allies believe they have more enemies, and they are doing their best to root them out.
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“There might be other countries involved in the coup attempt”.
