The top-level military meet…
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On Friday, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim announced the closure of the air base and the army barracks, all located near the capital Ankara.
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. Almost 16,000 people were detained over suspected links to the failed uprising, and about half of them were formally arrested to face trial.
Obama is focused on making sure that Turkey begins to resume normal practices, “understanding how an event like this can shake a society and government”, Schultz said. Two generals resigned as the meeting convened.
Erdogan has accused the USA of harboring the coup’s alleged mastermind, Fethullah Gulen, a cleric living in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania.
There were 290 people killed in the coup, and thousands have been detained.
The country’s foreign minister Melvlut Cavusoglu says almost 90 employees of his ministry have been let go for their potential connection to the coup.
In total, more than 66,000 people have been suspended or dismissed from their jobs in the wider public sector for alleged ties to the Gulen movement, according to the state-run Anadolu news agency, including in health care, education, the judiciary, ministries, municipalities and even Turkey’s national airline.
The authorities have issued a decree closing 131 media outlets while scores of top journalists have been arrested. Dozens of media organizations, majority also linked to Gulen, were ordered shuttered late Wednesday. Washington has responded cautiously to the request to extradite Gulen, saying it must provide clear evidence of his involvement in the coup plot.
In Germany, the governor of the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg said his regional government received a letter from the Turkish consul-general in Stuttgart asking it to check and “reevaluate” organizations, facilities and schools “which in the opinion of the Turkish government are, it says, “controlled” by the Gulen movement”.
In March, about 600 of the 700 US military families in Turkey were evacuated. Saniye Calkin said supporters in neighbouring Germany were reporting similar incidents.
The Nigerian senator did not say categorically whether the schools would be close but said that Turkey had a right to be concerned about its security.
Turkey’s post-coup purge has raised concerns throughout Europe.
Kocijancic said it was “extremely important the Turkish authorities respect under any circumstances the rule of law, human rights and fundamental freedoms”.
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. “It is inevitable. We don’t want to think about the bad scenarios”, he said. Erdogan has declared a three month state of emergency in the country, and is making moves to bring the military – which has traditionally operated independently of the civilian government – more directly under his control.
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Among the limited changes in the most senior commanders, the deputy armed forces chief General Yasar Guler was appointed commander of Turkey’s gendarmerie force, while the head of the prestigious First Army, General Umit Dundar, replaced him as Akar’s second-in-command, the presidential spokesman said.
