European officials have expressed concern at the scope of Turkey’s post-coup crackdown, while Ankara has accused European nations of not standing firmly in solidarity with Turkey against the coup bid it says was masterminded by US -based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen.
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The attempted coup left 271 people dead in a night of violence when renegade sections of the military used tanks, fighter jets and helicopters to try to overthrow the government.
In the aftermath of last month’s failed coup, Turkey’s widespread crackdown on the military, media, judiciary and educators have raised eyebrows if not drawn outright criticism from the West and human rights groups.
Also yesterday, General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the U.S. joint chiefs of staff, was to meet with Yildirim and Turkish chief of staff General Hulusi Akar.
A Turkish official says there appears to be one more member of the Mugla coup cell who remains at large.
Approximately one-third of Turkey’s generals and admirals have been detained since July 15. More than 18,000 people were detained, of whom 10,137 were arrested.
Echoing Mr Yildirim’s tone, deputy prime minister Numan Kurtulmus said: “If there are any mistakes, we will correct them”. He said a restructuring of Turkey’s intelligence structures may follow. Some held banners saying “Erdogan, fighting for liberty”.
Turkey summoned a senior German diplomat on Monday, a day after a rally in Cologne in support of the Turkish president who was not permitted to address the crowd by video link.
The hardline response “flouts the rule of law”, Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert has said, also blasting “revolting scenes of caprice and revenge” in the wake of the failed coup.
Turkey’s cooperation is crucial for the EU’s plan to tackle the refugee crisis, which hit Europe previous year.
Turkey will have to back out of the agreement if the European Union does not deliver visa liberalisation as promised, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was quoted as telling Germany’s daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Soldiers who raided his hotel in an attempt to capture or kill him are believed to have missed the president by an hour or less.
Turkish police arrest a protester chanting slogans in Istanbul after he and others tried to stage a march to denounce the deaths of a Monday explosion in the Turkish town of Suruc near the Syrian border, July 21, 2015.
Erdogan repeated a complaint that no foreign leader had visited Turkey after the failed coup, while France and Belgium received visits in solidarity after terror attacks there.
A total of 1,389 pro-coup soldiers, including Erdogan’s military aide, were discharged from the Turkish Armed Forces, the state Official Gazette announced on Sunday.
According to the gazette, the 1,389 military personnel targeted on Sunday were dismissed for suspected links to the Islamic preacher Gulen.
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This counter-protester says President Erdogan is a dictator who needs to be stopped.
