Erdogan also lashed out at Gen. Joseph L. Votel, commander of U.S. Central Command, saying he should not meddle in the internal affairs of Turkey, according to Anadolu.
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The Pentagon on Friday flatly rejected allegations by Turkey’s president that the us military was somehow involved in or in any way supported the recent failed coup in that country.
Yesterday Mr Erdogan accused Mr Votel of siding with Turkey’s coup plotters, a day after the general reportedly commented that the country’s turmoil could downgrade military cooperation with Washington.
Turkey’s Western allies have condemned the coup in which Erdogan said 237 people were killed and more than 2,100 wounded, however the President has faced criticism over the scale of the crackdown in the aftermath.
“You are taking the side of coup plotters instead of thanking this state for defeating the coup attempt”, Erdogan charged.
The US dismissed claims that it was complicit in the Turkish coup attempt as “utterly false and harmful” after Ankara declared that any state standing by US-based cleric Gulen an enemy. “We appreciate Turkey’s continuing cooperation and look forward to our future partnership in the counter-ISIL fight”, the general added, referring to the Islamic State group.
Mr Erdogan’s chief adviser then followed up with an assessment that the coup was triggered by Turkey’s warming relations with the Kremlin: “Without doubt”, Cemil Ertem wrote in the Milliyet newspaper, Turkish efforts to resolve regional conflicts and fix relations with Russian Federation triggered the coup attempt. “If you start to arrest some people like myself: human rights defenders, lawyers, journalists, et cetera, you would start to jeopardize these legal procedures”, he says over the phone. Erdogan said, as quoted by AP.
“We have certainly had relationships with a lot of Turkish leaders, military leaders in particular”, Votel told the Aspen Security Forum on Thursday.
Cook’s remarks come a day after Votel, speaking at a security conference in Colorado, said he was anxious about the impact of the July 15 coup attempt.
Turkey insisted its military would keep up the fight against Islamic State (IS) jihadists and other militants, saying the armed forces would emerge stronger from the purge.
Turkey’s ambassador Sedat Onal, said collected evidence and testimonies of some of the arrested perpetrators proves “the coup attempt was staged by cult leader Fethullah Gulen and his terrorist organisation, FETO”.
“Any suggestion anyone in the department supported the coup in any way would be absurd”, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook told reporters Friday.
Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag repeated Ankara’s request to the United States to swiftly extradite Gulen, once a powerful ally of Erdogan.
With long land borders with Syria and Iraq, Turkey is a central part of the US-led military operation against Islamic State.
Separately, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Turkey would shut down an air base in the outskirts of Ankara that the coup plotters used as their headquarters.
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Several hundred flag-waving protesters staged a peaceful protest march near the Incirlik base on Thursday, chanting “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest) and “Damn the U.S.A”, the pro-government Yeni Safak newspaper reported. Similarly, he said 42 journalists ordered detained on July 25 and another 47 ordered detained Wednesday are being questioned for their links to the movement.
