More than 30,000 people gathered in Cologne, Germany in support of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on July 31. “Unfortunately, the West is supporting terror and standing by the coup plotters”, he said in a televised speech at his presidential palace.
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Turkey has accused the West of supporting terrorism and backing the failed coup to overthrow the government.
Turkey meanwhile issued arrest warrants for about 100 staff, including doctors, at Ankara’s main military hospital, and even fired football referees in a new phase of the crackdown after the failed coup that has seen some 18,000 detained and caused global consternation.
“You have to be blind and deaf not to understand that he is behind all of this”, Erdogan said.
Meanwhile, a crackdown in Turkey after the unsuccessful coup attempt is still continuing amid worldwide concerns.
The warrants we issued a day after the prime minister, Binali Yildirim, admitted that some of the 19,000 people arrested so far had been unfairly treated.
In response to the request, US Secretary of State John Kerry stated that they need “genuine evidence” to extradite him and that a court’s approval is required.
“What kind of strategic partners are we”, Erdogan asked, “that you can still host someone whose extradition I have asked for?”
“They are not coming after the images revealed tanks were deployed on the streets, parliament was bombed”, Tufenkci said, pointing out that some foreign orders had been cancelled in the wake of the failed coup. He delivered messages condemning the coup and stressing the importance of Turkey’s contributions to the fight against the Islamic State group and as a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally.
Erdogan has said Gulen harnessed his network of schools, charities and businesses, built up in Turkey and overseas over decades, to create a “parallel state” that aimed to take over the country.
Authorities say they are suspected of involvement with Gulen’s movement, which runs schools, charities, hospitals and businesses across the world.
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Isik said 311 military personnel believed to have participated in the coup were still on the run including nine generals. Tens of thousands of people in Turkey have been dismissed or suspended from their jobs in the civil service, education, health care, judiciary, the military and media sectors, while about 18,000 have been detained or arrested, mostly in the military. “We have not received the support we were expecting from our friends, neither during nor after the coup attempt”, he said.
