Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has slammed the United States for its reaction to a failed military coup in Turkey, accusing it of harboring the man behind the plot.
Advertisement
Immediately after the failed coup attempt, the Turkish government criticized the United States for providing safe haven for Gulen, saying that a country that harbors “the coup planner” is “no friend” to Turkey. “Who are you? Know your place”, Mr Erdogan said. “As of today, 2,191 people were injured”, he said.
Bozdag said Gulen’s extradition was an urgent matter, not least because he said Turkey was receiving intelligence that the 75-year-old cleric might flee, possibly to Australia, Mexico, Canada, South Africa or Egypt. Egypt said it had not received an asylum request. Images of detained soldiers with bruises and bandages have anxious civil rights groups over mistreatment.
Speaking later in the evening at an event in Ankara to commemorate the dead and wounded, Erdogan said nobody from the European Union or the Council of Europe had visited Turkey to express their condolences for those killed in the coup.
“If the USA general says that only the members of the gulenists are fighting against IS, we would strongly reject it”, he said. Votel’s comments drew condemnation from Erdogan.
‘Instead of thanking this country which repelled a coup attempt, you take the side of the coup plotters.
Secretary of State John Kerry has said the extradition of Gulen, 75, will be considered if Turkey submits clear evidence of his involvement.
Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said any suggestion that the USA supported the coup was absurd and wrong.
“Any reporting that I had anything to do with the recent unsuccessful coup attempt in Turkey is unfortunate and completely inaccurate”, Votel said.
The dishonourable discharges included around 40% of Turkey’s admirals and generals.
Turkish Defence Minister Fikri Isik told broadcaster NTV on Friday that the shake-up in the military was not yet over, adding that military academies would now be a target of “cleansing”. A total of 8,113 have been formally arrested and are awaiting trial, while the judicial system itself has also experienced reshuffles and arrests. Members of the Gulen Movement, headed by the cleric, run about 300 schools in Turkey and over 1,000 worldwide.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu also criticized the US official’s comments, saying the jailed officers are “not the only ones with the capacity to fight” the Islamic State group. Those air operations were temporarily halted following the coup attempt.
“If we hadn’t removed the people this coup attempt would have been successful”, foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters in Ankara.
Ankara wants Washington to extradite Gulen, once a close ally of Erdogan and now an arch foe, to Turkey.
USA -based cleric Fethullah Gulen. The protesters burned a USA flag.
Security forces in the central city of Kayseri detained the chairman of the prominent family-owned Boydak Holding company, Mustafa Boydak, and two other top executives, Anadolu said.
Advertisement
They say they are anxious.
