“I wish to reaffirm full support of the government and people of Pakistan to the elected leadership and government and the people of Turkey”, the prime minister said.
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US-Turkish tensions have grown after government forces put down an attempted coup on Friday night.
Forces loyal to Turkey’s president quashed the coup attempt in a night of explosions, air battles and gunfire that left about 265 people dead and some 1,400 wounded.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for US officials to send Gulen – who has lived in the United States since 1999 – back to Turkey while speaking at a rally in Istanbul on July 16. For more than 40 years, Fethullah Gulen and Hizmet participants have advocated for, and demonstrated their commitment to, peace and democracy.
While that pragmatic approach is likely to continue as Erdogan shores up global support after the coup attempt, the president has often lashed at out his Western partners, questioning their commitment to democratic values and alleging that Kurdish militants enjoy refuge in some European countries. Turkey demanded their extradition. Secretary of State John Kerry said his government would consider any such request as long as it met USA standards of evidence.
Kerry, who spoke about Gulen during a visit to Luxembourg, said that no extradition request had been received.
Turkish officials have responded to the coup attempt by arresting and firing thousands of troops and judges they claimed were followers of the US -based moderate Islamic cleric, Fethullah Gulen.
It said the coup had been launched “to ensure and restore constitutional order, democracy, human rights and freedoms and let the supremacy of the law in the country prevail, to restore order which was disrupted”.
An official said Erdogan was speaking from Marmaris on the Turkish coast where he was on holiday.
Erdogan’s ruling AKP party accused Gulen, by then living in the United States in self-imposed exile, of engineering through his followers in law enforcement a crackdown on government ministers, including Erdogan’s son, Bilal, on allegations of corruption.
The exchange comes against the backdrop of Turkey closing its airspace, effectively grounding USA fighter jets that have been targeting Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) forces in neighbouring Syria and Iraq. He said 2,839 plotters were detained.
It said they will be able to transfer their travel insurance to a new destination if alternative arrangements are made.
Many are now wondering why the plotters of the coup – many of whom appeared to be young colonels, not high-ranking military officers – went ahead with an operation that, in the words of US Secretary of State John Kerry, “did not appear to be a brilliantly planned or executed event”. Erdogan said after arriving in Istanbul as his forces were regaining control of the country early Saturday that “Turkey can not be governed from Pennsylvania”.
That unit also led the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan from February to August 2005 when Turkey headed the UN-mandated mission. One of those detained was the commander general of the second army, one of Turkey’s most senior military officials.
Anadolu Agency said the government dismissed 2,745 judges across Turkey.
Yildirim described Gulen as the head of a “terrorist organization”.
In a column in the Sunday Express, Mr Johnson, who has Turkish ancestry, wrote: ” Most of the officials – as you would expect – were working on the unfolding crisis in Turkey, where the failed coup had myriad implications for this country.
As the night wore on, first reports of police arresting rebelling soldiers started to arrive.
Erdogan has long accused Gulen, a former ally, of trying to overthrow the government.
Acting military chief of staff General Umit Dundar said Turkey’s military was determined to eliminate “parallel structures” within its ranks. Yildirim vowed the coup attempt would not succeed.
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Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said “coups have no place in our region”. Of the attempted occupation by the military, the president said, “I don’t believe this coup attempt will be successful”.
