At a Pentagon briefing defending Gen. Votel, Cook said the “U.S. has repeatedly condemned the failed coup in Turkey” and added that “we continue to have excellent military relations with Turkey”.
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This decision should not be taken “in the heat of the moment”, he was quoted as saying.
I feel that if we do not make use of this opportunity correctly, then it will give the people the right to hold us by the throat.
“I believe that all the sections of the country, particularly politicians, will behave accordingly on this sensitive issue”.
Erdogan has accused the US of harboring the coup’s alleged mastermind, Fethullah Gulen, a cleric living in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania.
“Our relations will be affected if the USA will not give us Gulen”.
In his speech, Erdogan also lashed out at the West for failing to show solidarity with Ankara over the failed coup attempt: “Mind your own business! Look at your own deeds”, Erdogan said. To do that, Erdogan must get the support of opposition parties in the parliament, something that many say he can achieve.
“Those countries or leaders who are not anxious about Turkey’s democracy, the lives of our people, its future – while being so anxious about the fate of the putschists – can not be our friends”, he growled.
Almost 16,000 people have been detained over suspected links to the failed uprising and about half of them will face trial.
European Union enlargement commissioner Johannes Hahn said he needed to see “black-and-white facts about how these people are treated”.
“That surprised me greatly”, Winfried Kretschmann told the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
So far nearly 16 000 people have been detained in a crackdown – the magnitude of which had caused global alarm.
Among those freed was prominent commentator Bulent Mumay who was given a rapturous welcome by supporters.
But Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters in Ankara that he found such statements “ridiculous” and “unfortunate”.
These appear to be the first major arrests targeting the business world in a crackdown that has already sought to eradicate Gulen’s influence from the military, legal system, education and civil service.
The Turkish president has said he will drop all lawsuits against those charged with insulting him following a failed coup. Of those, more than 8,000 were formally arrested pending trial, it said.
Tensions among Dutch Turks, who came to the Netherlands as migrant workers in the 1960s and 1970s, escalated earlier this year when a hotline was opened by the Turkish Embassy to report insults to Erdogan. Since the July 15 coup attempt, top Turkish and American political and military leaders, including Erdoğan and President Barack Obama have assured each other about continued cooperation and partnership. “We’ve certainly had relationships with a lot of Turkish leaders, military leaders in particular”, he said.
The Pentagon publicly disavowed involvement in this month’s attempted coup in Turkey during a press conference Friday.
The hastily-convened meeting came after the government ordered the discharge of 149 generals – almost half of the armed forces’ entire contingent of 358 – for alleged complicity in the putsch bid.
Both Yildirim and Erdogan were seen on television during the ceremony weeping as the July 15 victims were remembered.
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“Instead of thanking this nation that quashed the coup in the name of democracy, on the contrary you are taking sides with the coup plotters”, Erdogan said, adding, “Besides, the coup plotter is in your country anyway”. Gulen has denied any prior knowledge of the plot and says his movement espouses interfaith dialogue.
