A police officer stands guard during the funeral ceremony of his colleague Erol Ince, who was killed during a thwarted coup at the Eyup Sultan Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, July 18, 2016.
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The coup crumbled after President Tayyip Erdogan, on holiday at the coast, phoned in to a television news programme and called for his followers to take to the streets. He added that it would be up to parliament to decide.
“A number of government officials and ruling party representatives have spoken in favor of reinstating the death penalty, itself a tool of past military rulers”.
Anadolu said 8,777 employees attached to the Interior Ministry were dismissed, including 30 governors, 52 civil service inspectors and 16 legal advisers. But also purges in the military and other arbitrary sanctions outside the framework of the law should be stopped immediately.
The coup plotters sent warplanes firing on key government installations and tanks rolling into major cities on Friday night. He said that about 10,000 supporters were at the airport to greet him when his plane landed.
He also said that power was shut off at all military bases, including the Incirlik air base in southern Turkey used by the US-led coalition jets fighting the Islamic State group, because the military didn’t want to risk having the conspirators use them. His voice cracked and he wept as he spoke with reporters after a Cabinet meeting and repeated a question his grandson had put to him: “Why are they killing people?” “We condemn this coup and we are clear about our desire to see democracy sustained and flourish in Turkey”.
The government moved swiftly in the wake of the coup to shore up its power and remove those perceived as enemies.
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim accused Washington, which has said it will only consider an extradition request if clear evidence is provided, of double standards in its fight against terrorism.
Three secretary general assistants in the Turkish parliament have been relieved of their duties following Friday’s failed coup, a parliamentary source said Wednesday.
“Even if he is a citizen of the U.S., the USA should not keep such a terrorist”, Erdogan told CNN.
“Twenty years ago, I clearly stated my support for democracy and I said that there is no return from democracy in Turkey”, Gulen said Saturday.
Yildirim said the normal United States legal processes would not be good enough.
Thousands of people have been arrested since the foiled coup. He added Germany expected Turkey to deal with those responsible for the attempted coup in line with the rule of law.
“We will certainly support bringing the perpetrators of the coup to justice but we also caution against a reach that goes well beyond that”.
If it reintroduces the death penalty, it won’t be joining the European Union, according to EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.
The United States, as well as the European Union and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, also warned Turkey on Monday not to backslide on human rights and democracy in its attempts to restore order.
Numerous ministers gathered expressed concern about the retaliation against the judicial officials, as well as about calls in Turkey for a reintroduction of the death penalty.
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She also said: “The democratic and legitimate institutions needed to be protected”.
