Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan began a rare meeting with representatives of global companies operating in Turkey, the latest government effort to manage the political and economic fallout from last month’s failed coup attempt.
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Tuesday said the West supports terrorism and backs coups.
With the government implementing a relentless crackdown in the wake of the coup, Erdogan vowed the harshest consequences for anyone who even supported Gulen. “Unfortunately the west is supporting terrorism and is on the side of the putsch”, he continued.
“Dunford go home. Send us Fethullah”, said one banner, in reference to US-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, whose network of followers in the military and state institutions are blamed by Erdogan for orchestrating the coup plot.
Concerning the coup plotters and those who had been arrested, Erdogan said that they won’t feel sorry for the detainees because they threaten Turkey. About 18,000 people have been detained or arrested, majority from the military, and authorities have said the purge will continue.
He lashed out at Germany’s judicial authorities for not allowing him to address by video link a weekend rally supporting him in Cologne, saying Berlin had previously permitted leaders from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to do so at earlier events.
U.S. state department spokesman John Kirby said Erdogan “is certainly free to express his views and his frustrations as he sees fit”.
Turkey has repeatedly accused US-based preacher Fetullah Gulen of organizing the coup and has said those involved in the coup attempt are members of the banned Fetullah Terrorist Organization or FETO.
Gülen recently accused Erdoğan of “blackmailing” the USA into extraditing him from Pennsylvania, where he lives, and urged Washington not to give in to Erdoğan’s pressure.
“They have actors inside (Turkey) but the scenario of this coup was written overseas”, he said during a speech at an event for foreign investors in Ankara.
Referring to the heavy destruction on the night of the coup, he said: “Warplanes, helicopters, weapons, bombs, buildings: 300 billion lira”.
US officials will not directly comment on the requests from Turkey, stating only that documentation has been received and is being analyzed, but no judgment has apparently been made on whether there has been a formal extradition request, as Ankara insists it has submitted.
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“The US must help Turkey, which is an important ally for the US, in its fight against these terrorists”, the statement added. “If we show pity to these murderers, to these coup plotters, we will end up in a pitiful state”, he said.
