Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Vice-Chairman Dr Yasin Aktay, who is also the official spokesman for the party, has praised Qatar’s stance in supporting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s legitimacy and rejecting the recent failed military coup attempt, stressing that Turkish people will never forget this honourable position of Qatar’s Emir, government and people. More than 230 people were killed in the attempted putsch and parliament was bombed by the country’s own aircraft and tanks for the first time in its history.
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“We are all well advised to now say we’re pressing the reset button”, he said, calling accession talks a “diplomatic fiction”. “We need, in any case, a Plan B”.
He referred to accusations that the coup attempt organised by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in order to get rid of his opponents, saying that he is surprised at these allegations which have no factual evidence, adding that everyone knows that some of military leaders involved in the coup attempt and the leader of the terrorist organisation Fethullah Gulen himself admitted that there was a coup attempt. Despite this, I am still disappointed that the true traitors were not identified beforehand.
The head of a top European rights watchdog yesterday backed a “cleaning up” of Turkish institutions after a failed coup blamed on supporters of US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen. The 75-year-old preaches Sunni Islam together with a message of interfaith dialogue and has built a worldwide network of schools and institutions over several decades.
Broadcaster NTV earlier reported that police raided the offices of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (Tubitak) on Wednesday and detained “many” people.
“Be objective and stable, let’s be honest”, Cavusoglu said at a news conference with Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland in Ankara.
“The coup attempt was outrageous…”
A government official in Athens on Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2106 said to the Associated Press that there is no sign yet that a deal between the European Union and Turkey to stop migrants coming to Europe has faltered since the attempted military coup in the country. “If the coup makers had won that very night, the same would have happened, I am quite sure”, he said.
Turkish politicians have been frustrated by USA and European criticism of the purge that has followed the coup, accusing the West of greater concern about the rights of the plotters than the gravity of the threat to a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member state.
“Up to now the agreement is well-kept”, Greek migration minister Yiannis Mouzalas said in a transcript of remarks.
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According to Interior Minister Efkan Ala, 25,917 people have now been detained, 13,419 of whom have been remanded in custody over their roles in the coup.
