Former air force commander Akin Ozturk, alleged to be the ringleader of the uprising, was put under arrest following questioning by a magistrate along with 25 other suspects, the news agency said.
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The massive crackdown came in the wake of a failed coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that began last Friday and was crushed the next day. He added that it would be up to parliament to decide.
Mr Erdogan is expected to make a major announcement today, with some in Turkey fearing he will declare martial law, set curfews or even bring back the death penalty. About 1,500 finance ministry officials had been suspended, a ministry official said, and CNN Turk said 30 governors and more than 50 high-ranking civil servants had been dismissed.
In Greece, eight fugitive Turkish military officers facing extradition were moved from the border town of Alexandroupolis to the northern city of Kavala, 120 miles further inland.
Meanwhile, Erdogan’s military aide, Lt. Col. Erkan Kivrak, has been taken into custody in southern Turkey for alleged ties to the plotters, according to Anadolu. The top brass did not support the coup.
In a bid to calm markets roiled by the coup attempt, Turkey’s central bank cut a key interest rate Tuesday to shore up liquidity in the economy. The base has relied on generators since being cut off on Saturday during the coup. “If I stayed (in Marmaris) 10, 15 minutes more, I would either have been killed or kidnapped and taken away by them”.
The United States has said it would look at any extradition requests, but US Secretary of State John Kerry also made clear Monday that Turkey should respect the rule of law.
He said that the Turkish people “now have the idea, after so many terrorist incidents, that these terrorists should be killed – that’s where they are, they don’t see any other outcome to it”, he said. But US officials have been rattled by the extent of Turkey’s response to the failed coup and say the relationship will now depend on how Erdogan pursues Gulen and how far the crackdown extends. All of them are accused of having links toFethullah Gulen – a supposed mastermind of the coup attempt, who denies any wrongdoing. Treason – such as that implied by Erdogan’s demand for Gulen’s extradition – is not listed as such an act in the countries’ treaty.
Yildirim said the justice ministry had sent a dossier to U.S. authorities on Gulen, whose religious movement blends conservative Islamic values with a pro-Western outlook and who has a network of supporters within Turkey.
Yildirim said the normal US legal processes would not be good enough.
The base, which is used by Turkish and USA forces in the air campaign against Islamic State, has been without power in the days since the failed coup.
Turkey’s state-run news agency says courts have ordered 85 generals and admirals jailed pending trial over their roles in a botched coup attempt. In total, more than 9,400 people are being detained, the vast majority of them from the military.
“We would be disappointed if our (American) friends told us to present proof even though members of the assassin organisation are trying to destroy an elected government under the directions of that person”, Yildirim said.
While he recognized the need to apprehend the coup plotters, Kerry said: “We caution against a reach that goes beyond that”.
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The president and other officials have strongly suggested the government is considering reinstating the death penalty, a practice abolished in 2004 as part of Turkey’s bid to join the European Union. That message was echoed by Germany, the EU’s biggest state.
