Erdogan said the coup had been put down by the “national will”, blaming “those who can not bear the unity of our country and are under the orders of masterminds to take over the state”.
Advertisement
Other media reports said police and military police officers and coast guards were also removed from duty.
The Turkish president blames US -based cleric Fethullah Gulen as the instigator of the botched coup and he’s moved swiftly against Gulen supporters in his country’s institutions.
For the moment, both the U.S. and European governments are desperate to avoid criticising Turkey in public. He has shaken up the government, cracked down on dissent, restricted the media and renewed fighting with Kurdish rebels. But, as President Erdogan noted, “this measure is in no way against democracy, the law, and freedoms”.
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim says those responsible will be dealt with.
US-led missions against IS in Syria and Iraq are being launched out of Turkey from the Incirlik air base in the south-east.
CHP lawmaker Ozgur Ozel said the decision would amount to a “civilian coup” against Parliament and was a display of “ingratitude” to all the legislators who had gathered in the assembly to oppose the coup attempt.
The Turkish government on Tuesday escalated its wide-ranging crackdown against people it claims have ties to plotters of last week’s attempted coup, firing tens of thousands of public employees across the country. “At this stage there could even be a questioning of our friendship”. It insisted that the source of the emails was not linked to the coup plotters or to a rival political party or country.
On Monday, Turkish prosecutors began questioning 27 generals and admirals.
Ozturk, commander of the air force until August 2015, and 26 senior officers were charged with treason, Anadolu news agency reported.
At least 208 people, including members of the security forces and civilians, were martyred in Istanbul and Ankara and almost 1,500 others wounded as they protested against the coup.
He was speaking to his supporters during a rally outside his residence in the country’s largest city of Istanbul early on Tuesday.
The government moved swiftly in the wake of the coup to shore up its power and remove those perceived as enemies.
On Monday, security forces continued raiding military facilities in search of suspected plotters. It was not clear if any arrests were made.
Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday had warned Turkey that the far-reaching arrests and suspensions would come under close scrutiny and that a failure to uphold democratic norms could put Ankara’s membership in North Atlantic Treaty Organisation at risk. He had indicated a shake-up of the military was imminent and had also taken steps to increase his influence over the judiciary.
The Council of Europe also joined the criticism, with its panel of constitutional experts saying: “Arrests and mass sackings of judges are not an acceptable way of restoring democracy”.
The swift move against so many reflected the prior investigation, the government said.
Turkey’s government has blamed US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen for directing the uprising.
Gulen, 75, whose religious movement blends conservative Islamic values with a pro-Western outlook, lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania, but has a network of supporters within Turkey.
Advertisement
Seeking to prevent damage to the economy, Erdogan said in his televised address that his government would not abandon fiscal discipline and that it was not facing liquidity problems.
