Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the head of U.S. Central Command of “siding with coup plotters” after the general said American contacts were being swept up in Turkey’s post-putsch crackdown, deepening a rift between NATO’s two largest militaries.
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Erdogan, speaking at a police headquarters that was bombed by the coup leaders, took issue with an interview Votel gave Thursday at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado in which he said that there was “friction” in U.S.-Turkey military relations since the attempt to bring down the government.
The US dismissed claims that it was complicit in the Turkish coup attempt as “utterly false and harmful” after Ankara declared that any state standing by US-based cleric Gulen an enemy.
Turkey past year agreed to allow the United States to use its Incirlik airbase to carry out lethal raids against jihadists in Syria and it has since become a key hub.
“Many of our interlocutors have been purged or arrested”, he said.
Such a change would require a constitutional amendment, so Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted AK Party would require the support of opposition parties in parliament, Turkish media said. Votel said the coup’s aftermath “will have an impact on the operations that we do”.
However, Erdogan says the armed forces have been infiltrated in recent years by Gulen’s supporters.
The Turkish government said Friday that Washington has it backwards when it suggests ongoing purges of the military is harming military cooperation against “Islamic State” (“IS”).
Kocijancic said it was “extremely important the Turkish authorities respect under any circumstances the rule of law, human rights and fundamental freedoms”.
Since the failed coup attempt, over 16 000 people, including soldiers, judges, prosecutors and civil service workers, have been detained.
(AP Photo/Ali Unal). Turkish special police secure during a Supreme Military Council meeting with the Prime Minister Binali Yildirim at Ataturk’s mausoleum in Ankara on July 28, 2016.
As a candidate nation for European Union membership, Turkey “needs to aspire to the highest possible democratic standard and practices, including on the freedom of the media”, said European Union spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic.
Turkey’s defence minister, Fikri Isik, said he’d seek clarity from his United States counterpart Ash Carter on exactly what Gen Votel and Mr Clapper meant by their remarks, which Turkish Prime Minister Binaldi Yildirim called a “confession”. “This is a matter of national security for us in Turkey”.
Ankara has demanded that the US extradite Gulen, but Washington insists on “concrete evidence” linking Gulen to the July 15 coup attempt as a precondition for his extradition. “There’s no question that this is going to set back and make [the US’ Middle East strategy] more hard”.
“Those countries that do not worry about Turkey’s future are not our friends”, he said.
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Akar told him the current situation is “stressful” but he was “positive”, and underscored Turkey’s commitment as a “solid ally” to NATO, Scaparrotti said, adding that he intends to visit Akar as soon as he can.
