The Turkish Government has filed material in electronic form about Mr Gulen with the United States government, which has been waiting for a formal extradition request, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Tuesday.
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Mr Gulen, a reclusive 75-year-old Islamic preacher, has been in exile in the USA since 1999, but wields enormous influence in Turkish society, with supporters in the media, police and judiciary.
“We have more than enough evidence, more than you could ask for, on Gulen”, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag told reporters outside parliament.
“The aim of the declaration of the state of emergency is to be able to take fast and effective steps against this threat against democracy, the rule of law and rights and freedoms of our citizens”, Erdogan said. “(…) This is a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally is a partner is a democratically elected government it is a strong democracy we stand with and stood with Turkey during that crisis”.
Wednesday’s strikes come as Turkey’s military is reeling from a failed coup by a faction within the armed forces and appear to be an attempt to show that the forces are on top of security matters.
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, meanwhile, reflected the triumphant mood of authorities.
“We owe it to our people to go after them“.
“Purges in state institutions won’t affect the government’s functioning”, he said.
Erdogan, who has led Turkey as prime minister or president since 2003, has vowed to clean the “virus” responsible for the plot from all state institutions.
In the latest action by the authorities, the education ministry said more than 15,000 state education employees had been suspended.
The recent history of U.S.-Turkey relations offers a lesson in how a friendship can unravel.
As tanks rolled through the streets of the capital, Ankara, and Istanbul, Erdogan said he addressed the nation via FaceTime because the national TV broadcast was not reaching people’s televisions. Erdogan’s government didn’t replace the previous elite with sound constitutional changes and democratic reforms; it only transferred power from Kemalists to their own followers.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, voiced “serious alarm” on Tuesday at the mass suspension of judges and prosecutors and urged Turkey to allow independent monitors to visit those who have been detained. He said the July 15 victory over the plotters was epic and that no coup in the history of Turkey had been as brutal as the one that this government survived. Speaking alongside the leader of the main secularist opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), he said the country must avoid the risk that some people try to exploit the current situation. “We need to have evidence which we can then make a judgment about”.
Turkey abolished the death penalty for all forms of crime in 2004 but the government now claims there is growing public pressure to reinstate it for the coup plotters.
Erdogan now speaks of restoring the death penalty to Turkey to punish the plotters, a prospect that effectively would kill the country’s chances of joining the European Union.
The President praised the reactions to the coup attempt, in which 246 people died and 1,536 were wounded. Turkey’s Incirlik airbase is a major jumping-off point for USA and coalition forces in their battles against the Islamic State.
Some 1,500 finance ministry officials have also been removed from their posts.
And educators aren’t the only professionals the government has its eyes on: The Guardian reports more than 8,000 police officers have been fired and 6,000 soldiers have been arrested.
Among the arrested are 103 generals and admirals, a third of the general-rank command of the Turkish military.
“I am not the person who planned or led the coup”.
Trust is deteriorating as a result of this crackdown, which may transform Turkey into a police state, according to Goujan.
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He told supporters in Istanbul on Monday that “an important decision” would be announced after the security meeting, without specifying.
