Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, and Turkey’s Chief of Staff Geneneral Hulusi Akar, review a military honor guard at the military headquarters in Ankara, Turkey, on Wednesday, …
Advertisement
The Barack Obama administration has condemned the coup attempt but has not given an opinion on who was behind it. State Department spokesman John Kirby said August 2 that the United States has received documents from the Turkish government in support of its request to extradite Gulen but USA authorities “are still analyzing those documents, and I don’t believe that a judgment is made one way or the other yet in terms of whether it’s formal extradition”.
Some 18,000 people have been detained in the crackdown after the coup, which Ankara blames on followers of Gulen who built up a presence in key institutions including the military.
Its leader Devlet Bahceli said the changes risked turning Turkey’s army into a force like that of former Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein or former Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi.
“Unfortunately, the West is supporting terror and standing by the coup plotters”, Erdogan said in a typically combative speech at his presidential palace, denouncing “those who we imagined to be friends”.
Migration Minister Yiannis Mouzalas on Wednesday rebuffed a report in Germany’s Bild tabloid which quoted him as saying that Athens wants a “plan B” to implement in the event that Turkey reneges on the EU’s migrant deal with Ankara.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday lashed out at the European Union for dragging its feet in releasing promised funds for Syrian refugees as well as providing visa-free travel for Turks into the passport-free Schengen zone.
“I’m calling on the United States: What kind of strategic partners are we, that you can still host someone whose extradition I have asked for?”
“If you start asking for documents and what not, then it’s a huge obstacle in our way of fighting terrorism”.
It was the first time a medical establishment has been targeted in a clampdown under a three-month state of emergency that has also hit journalists and academics.
In his interviews with a number of Qatari newspapers yesterday, Dr Yasin Aktay said that the failed coup attempt targeted Turkey’s strong ties with Qatar and other countries in the region, describing the Qatari-Turkish relations as “perfect, typical, and growing in all aspects”.
Jagland also met with Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, prime ministry sources said.
Since the failed coup, the Turkish government has launched a sweeping crackdown on Gulen’s movement, which it characterizes as a terrorist organization.
Gulen has lived in self-imposed exile in the United States since 1999 and has denied any involvement in the July 15 putsch bid.
Advertisement
But Jagland said Turkey had to establish “clear procedures… evidences and clear judicial safeguards”, as it presses ahead with the purges.
