The Turkish government continues to take action against soldiers and institutions after this month’s failed coup attempt.
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Twenty-one journalists were appearing in court Friday after being detained as part of a sweeping crackdown following Turkey’s July 15 failed military coup, while the country’s Ministry of European Union Affairs suspended several staff.
Turkey’s top broadcasting authority last week revoked the licenses for two dozen radio and television companies that it said are linked to Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkish leaders blame for masterminding the coup.
Turkey deems Gulen and his so-called parallel state responsible for the coup attempt, which martyred at least 246 people and injured more than 2,100 others, and calls for the preacher’s extradition to Turkey to face trial.
Bozdag said Turkey was receiving intelligence that Gulen might flee, possibly to Australia, Mexico, Canada, South Africa or Egypt. Egypt said it had not received an asylum request.
“They were not only engaged in journalistic activity, they were engaged in activities that included the fabrication of evidence that served (the Gulen movement)”, he said.
The annual meeting of the Supreme Military Council – chaired by Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and including the top brass – followed the dishonourable discharge of almost 1,700 military personnel over their alleged roles in the abortive putsch on July 15-16.
Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in the USA state of Pennsylvania since 1999, again maintained his innocence during an interview with Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper, saying he had himself suffered from previous coups in Turkey.
Tens of thousands of state employees have also been dismissed for alleged ties to Gulen, while schools, dormitories and hospitals associated with his movement have been closed down.
Gulen has condemned the coup and denies any involvement.
She said that “if Erdogan had been killed and the governing party dismantled, then President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi in Egypt and President Bashar Assad in Syria would be pleased”.
The detention of journalists and the purges of officials have raised concerns in Europe, and on Thursday German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it was “right and important” after a coup attempt to pursue the coup plotters “with all the means and possibilities of the state of law”.
On the contrary, some other nations including Iran, Azerbaijan, Russia, Iraq and the Gulf states would question with concern what kind of Turkey would emerge after this coup.
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Authorities handed out arrest warrants for 42 journalists earlier this week and on Wednesday issued another 47 for former Zaman staff.
