The Turkish president lashed out at Washington and the country’s other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies a day after the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S. Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford, met with Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim – an encounter created to try to narrow the rift that has developed since the July 15 coup attempt.
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The attempted coup left 271 people dead in a night of violence when renegade sections of the military used tanks, fighter jets and helicopters to try to overthrow the government.
More than 60,000 people in the military, judiciary, civil service and education have been detained, suspended or placed under investigation since the coup, prompting fears that Erdogan is pursuing an indiscriminate crackdown on all forms of dissent and using the situation to tighten his grip on power.
Apparently responding to widening global alarm about the crackdown, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim admitted there may have been some unfair treatment in the state sector.
Turkey has formally asked the United States to arrest Mr Gulen and president Erdogan has grown increasingly frustrated with what he perceives as Washington’s slowness to respond.
“We will make a distinction between those who are guilty and those who are not”. That Gulen lives in exile in the U.S. has added to that. Pictured are supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attending a rally.
The football federation said in a brief statement released on its website that the TFF made a decision to cut relations with 94 officials, including local and worldwide referees, assistant referees and observers, in addition to members of the local councils of referees. But Berlin played down the incident, saying such “invitations” were nothing out of the ordinary.
Germany’s Constitutional Court issued the ban to prohibit the live stream, which was proposed by organisers of a pro-Erdogan demonstration on Sunday that drew an estimated 40,000 people to the western German city.
The government says the coup was instigated by Fethullah Gulen, a former Erdogan ally who lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania, and is seeking his extradition.
But Jagland said Turkey had to establish “clear procedures. evidences and clear judicial safeguards”, as it presses ahead with the purges.
“What kind of strategic partners are we”, Erdogan asked, “that you can still host someone whose extradition I have asked for?”
The suggestion has been firmly denied by top United States officials.
That stance has angered Erdogan and has led to strains in the two countries’ relations.
“If we show pity to these murderers, to these coup plotters, we will end up in a pitiful state”, he said.
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Before his meetings with the Turkish officials, the USA general visited Incirlik air base – used by coalition planes for air raids on IS in Syria. “It’s sufficient to look at the statements issued during and after the coup to see this”. “The actors inside acted out a scenario for a coup written from the outside”, Erdogan said. Erdogan fled to Istanbul just in time to escape.
