Turkey’s ruling party on Friday instructed its local branches and party-led municipalities to purge themselves of suspected supporters of USA -based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is accused by the government of instigating the country’s failed July 15 coup.
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The court ruled that the so-called Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) had attempted to change constitutional order through infiltrating the Turkish Armed Forces, in hopes of overthrowing the current government.
The attempted putsch, which President Tayyip Erdogan blames on US -based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, has strained Ankara’s relations with Washington.
A senior European Union official involved in accession talks with Turkey said Kern’s comments were “too early” and part of “the domestic debate” in Austria, where the far-right Freedom Party attracts around a third of votes in opinion polls.
According to media reports, an Istanbul-based court has issued a formal warrant against the former ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
US State Department spokesman Mark Toner said American officials were reviewing the documents to determine whether they constituted a formal extradition request.
Since then thousands have been purged from their roles in the judiciary, police, military and education system, accused of being members of the coup movement while more than 25,000 people have been detained. The government wants him extradited to Turkey.
Mr Gulen has denied any knowledge of the coup which killed 270 people and has led to the arrest of 18,000 people.
A court in Istanbul has issued an arrest warrant for US-based Turkish cleric Fetullah Gulen. “They are saying, ‘Wait for August 14, ‘” the president said at a consultation meeting with heads of Turkish commerce at the Presidential Palace.
“We are determined to totally cut off all business links of this organisation, which has blood on its hands”.
The Turkish government claims that many of those arrested during the coup attempt have confessed to being supporters of Gulen, though Amnesty International has found evidence that Turkish officials tortured and raped many of those in their custody following the coup, which could cloud the veracity of those confessions.
Celik said Turkey’s intelligence services had been investigating the group accused of instigating the coup since 2013.
At the same event, he also said it was imperative for the country to remain vigilant and chase down Gulen followers.
But Erdogan said Thursday that the “virus” of Gulen’s influence had spread everywhere in Turkey and must be “cleaned up”.
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“The (Gulen movement) is not only a threat to Turkey, it is a threat to all countries in which it has a presence”, Erdogan said during their joint news conference.
