Apart from the controversy over the cleric casting a shadow on US-Turkish relations, the broader implications of political turmoil in Turkey could put the country’s strategic role as a major ally in the US-led North Atlantic Treaty Organisation block under question, Eland argues.
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Military forces are trying to oust the Turkish government in a nighttime coup. Had this got out of hand, it could easily have thrown the country into a state of total chaos.
2305 – U.S. President Barack Obama says he and Secretary of State Kerry agree that all parties in Turkey should support elected government.
The Turks were also dissatisfied with their North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies’ seemingly muted response to the coup attempt. He denied any involvement.
“There is a slight chance, there is a possibility that it could be a staged coup”, Gulen told reporters through a translator in Pennsylvania, where he resides.
“I do not say this is the case, only that it could be the case”, he said.
Turkey is one of the main backers of opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in that country’s civil war, host to 2.7 million Syrian refugees and launchpad past year for the biggest influx of migrants to Europe since World War II.
The coup attempt crumbled after crowds answered President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s call to take to the streets and dozens of rebels abandoned their tanks.
Thousands of military officers have been arrested, including the commander of Turkey’s 2nd Army, Gen. Adem Huduti.
“We would invite the government of Turkey, as we always do, to present us with any legitimate evidence that withstands scrutiny”.
This has led to a halt in US airstrike missions from that location, the official said on condition of anonymity. Defense department personnel in the area were “safe and secure”, he said.
About 150 supporters of Mr Erdogan protested outside the compound on Saturday, chanting and waving signs.
“You know how you went out in to the squares?” he asked.
“Turkey was a shining example of a successful Middle Eastern country, and now it’s like every other Middle Eastern country – living with factionalism and fragile”, Landis said.
Soon afterwards, members of the public stormed the state TV studios in Ankara, and the same broadcaster who read out the coup statement only a few hours before announced that the state TV had been brought back under civilian control. The anchor said the military imposed martial law.
Yildirim said more change is coming.
“As someone who suffered under multiple military coups during the past five decades, it is especially insulting to be accused of having any link to such an attempt”.
General Dundar had initially said that 104 coup plotters had been killed and almost 2,000 arrested, including the head of gendarmerie school and head of the National Coast Guard and other senior generals and colonels.
She described the extensive damage to the building.
An additional 1,140 people were wounded, said Yildirim.
Ten members of the High Council of Judges and Prosecutors and two members of the Constitutional Court have already been detained, officials said.
The pro-Gulen Alliance for Shared Values said it condemned any military intervention in domestic politics, and Gulen on Saturday denied any accusation of a role in the uprising. Erdogan has routinely cast himself as the vulnerable democrat battling the machinations of the deep state – including coup-plotters who would reject the democratic will of the people.
Although Secretary of State John F. Kerry said the Obama
administration would entertain an extradition request for Gulen, he stressed Turkey would have to prove wrongdoing. “But I could not make you believe it. Today, after his attempted coup, I call to you, give Turkey this person who is in Pennsylvania”. Explosions and gunfire erupted throughout the night.
Tanks also surrounded the Turkish parliament building in Ankara and opened fire. A helicopter allegedly stolen by coup plotters was shot down by an F-16.
Shortly after dawn, video footage showed soldiers surrendering en masse.
Hundreds of soldiers were held in Ankara for alleged involvement in the coup, leaving police stations overflowing.
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After the recent Ataturk airport bombings, I wrote that Turkey is “a country with serious deficiencies in democracy, governance, the judicial system, human rights, the rule of law and – more importantly – security”.
