Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the head of U.S. Central Command of “siding with coup plotters” after the general said American contacts were being swept up in Turkey’s post-putsch crackdown, deepening a rift between NATO’s two largest militaries.
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So far, tens of thousands of people – including police, judges and teachers – have been suspended or placed under investigation since the July 15-16 coup, which Turkey says was staged by a faction within the military loyal to the Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen.
“You are taking the side of coup plotters instead of thanking this state for defeating the coup attempt”. Gulen, who is based in Pennsylvania, condemned the coup and denied Erdoğan’s accusations.
Turkey on Saturday released more than 750 soldiers who had been detained after an abortive coup, state media reported, while President Tayyip Erdogan said he would drop lawsuits against those who had insulted him, in a one-time gesture of “unity”.
“Of course, when a coup attempt like this takes place in a country, it is right and important to take action against the rebels with all the means and potential of the constitutional state”, she said.
The commander of United States forces in the Middle East, General Joseph Votel, issued a statement Friday asserting that he had no link to the coup attempt in Turkey, an unusual move by one of the highest-ranked United States military leaders.
Cavusoglu said that Turkey had “never dragged its feet” in its cooperation with the United States in fighting terror.
The generals handed in their resignations in protest against the government’s ongoing dismissals in the aftermath of the failed coup attempt of July 15, sources told Al Jazeera on Thursday.
“If we hadn’t removed the people this coup attempt would have been successful”, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters in Ankara Friday, speaking about the crackdown.
“The coalition would prefer to fly out of Incirlik” against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, but could compensate from other bases in the region and naval aircraft, said Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook. “We appreciate Turkey’s continuing cooperation and look forward to our future partnership in the counter-ISIL fight”, the general said, referring to IS. A total of 8,113 have been formally arrested and are awaiting trial, while the judicial system itself has also experienced reshuffles and arrests.
The US has asked Turkey for evidence of his involvement.
The purges have also hit government ministries, schools and universities, the police, civil service, media and business.
The day after the coup, Suleyman Soylu – Turkey’s Labour Minister and deputy chairman of Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party – said: “America is behind it”. Dozens of media organizations, mostly linked to Gulen, were ordered to close Wednesday night.
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“We need to make a distinction between those who cooperate with those who carried out the coup, those who supported it, and the real journalists”, he said.
