“It was madness. It’s not right to arrest journalists – this country should not make the same mistakes again”, he said, quoted by the Dogan news agency. “We are trying to work through that with the Turks and have every confidence we’ll be able to do that”. “So I feel that all factions of society, politicians first and foremost, will behave accordingly with this new reality, this new sensitive situation before us”, Erdogan said. They say they are anxious. Mind your own business!
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“Not a single person has come to give condolences either from the European Union… or from the West”, said Erdogan.
“One should be ashamed”, the president said.
President said those who failed to show solidarity with Ankara and anxious more about the culprits than democracy could not be Turkey’s friends.
As of Friday, a total of 18,000 people suspected to be involved in planning the failed coup have been detained.
“And if there is even the slightest doubt that the (treatment) is improper, then the consequences will be inevitable”, he told German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
Demirtas echoed other critics who point to Erdogan’s previous alliance with Gulen, with whom he once shared compatible Islamist visions for Turkey.
Twenty-one journalists had appeared before a judge in hearings lasting until midnight on Friday.
Those held include the veteran journalist Nazli Ilicak as well as the former correspondent for the pro-Gulen Zaman daily Hanim Busra Erdal, it added.
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu defended the detention of reporters, saying it was necessary to distinguish between coup plotters and those “who are engaged in real journalism”.
In the central city of Kayseri, a stronghold of Erdogan’s ruling Islamist-rooted AK Party, police detained the chairman of furniture-to-cables conglomerate Boydak Holding and two company executives as part of the investigation into the “Gulenist Terror Group”, Anadolu reported.
In an unexpected move, Erdogan said late on Friday he would drop, as a one-off gesture, all lawsuits filed against people for insulting him.
Western governments and human rights groups, while condemning the abortive coup in which at least 246 people were killed and more than 2,000 injured, have expressed concern over the extent of the crackdown, suggesting President Erdogan may be using it to stifle dissent and tighten his grip on power.
Since the July 15 coup attempt, top Turkish and American political and military leaders, including Erdoğan and President Barack Obama have assured each other about continued cooperation and partnership. Gulen has denied any knowledge of the attempted coup.
Turkey announced a military reshuffle on Thursday evening, including the dishonourable discharge of 1,700 military servicemen.
Both Yildirim and Erdogan were seen on television during the ceremony weeping as the July 15 victims were remembered.
Erdogan said the USA was taking sides with coup plotters.
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“Any reporting that I had anything to do with the recent unsuccessful coup attempt in Turkey is unfortunate and completely inaccurate”, he said in a statement.
