Two senior generals reportedly resigned from their posts yesterday morning after nearly 1,700 military personnel were dishonourably discharged for their alleged role in the attempt to oust President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Advertisement
On Thursday, the Supreme Military Council had held a meeting under the chairmanship of Yildirim in Ankara, which made a decision to keep Gen. Hulusi Akar as Turkey’s chief of general staff.
Turkish officials accuse Gulen of building influence through a vast network of private education not only in Turkey but also Africa and Central Asia.
Turkey considers Gulen’s movement a terrorist organization.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has lashed out at western leaders for failing to show solidarity with Ankara over a failed coup attempt, saying countries who anxious more about the fate of the perpetrators than democracy could not be Turkey’s friends.
Erdogan at a speech Friday criticized Gen. Joseph Votel, the top USA commander for the Middle East, who noted that some Turkish military leaders whom the US had relationships with have been jailed in the wake of the attempted coup.
“We’ve certainly had relationships with a lot of Turkish leaders, military leaders in particular”, he said. “We appreciate Turkey´s continuing cooperation and look forward to our future partnership in the counter-ISIL fight”, the general said, referring to the Islamic State group.
“You can never deceive my people”.
Home of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s second-biggest military and strategically located between Europe and Asia, Turkey plays a vital role for the coalition battling Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu sits with members of the media in Ankara on July 29, 2016. The extent of Turkey’s crackdown has raised concerns among its Western allies.
The European Union and other countries, as well as human rights groups, have voiced increasing concern about the crackdown.
More than 18,000 people have been detained since the foiled coup attempt, Turkish Interior Minister Efkana Ala announced recently. Soon after the attack, Turkish authorities began a purge of numerous institutions, including of media outlets.
Since the failed coup attempt, over 16 000 people, including soldiers, judges, prosecutors and civil service workers, have been detained. It has also been seeking to extend its crackdown on the network of schools and institutions overseas connected to his movement.
Relating to the state of emergency declared by Turkish government after the coup attempt, the ambassador said that the recent temporary law is only to fight against terrorism in an effective manner.
“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. “Of course we will not do that”.
Turkish officials have said they believe the coup plot was put into force in haste before the council in August, when many officers suspected of links to Gulen would have been discharged.
“We dismissed 34 personnel from the ministry within this framework”.
Advertisement
Nevertheless, there is a growing anti-US mood in Turkey which is likely to harden further if Washington refuses to extradite Gulen.
