He accused the West of supporting terrorism.
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Turkey’s justice minister has sent a document to the United States seeking the arrest of cleric Fethullah Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania and who Ankara accuses of instigating an attempted coup on July 15.
During a speech at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, the Turkish president lashed out at the country’s Western allies, saying the failed coup was a “scenario written from outside”, in an apparent reference to the involvement of foreign powers.
“It’s up to Turkey whether there can be [a] visa-free regime or not”, Germany’s deputy chancellor said. He added that he is an elected president and didn’t reach his position through a military coup. Erdogan also denounced “those who we imagined to be friends”.
Coups and counter-revolutions are undesired occurrences in democracies and the complete opposite of democracies. “Unfortunately the west is supporting terrorism and is on the side of the putsch”, he continued.
Last month’s attempted coup d’etat left hundreds dead and many more wounded.
Deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz said Friday that the US was one of the first countries to condemn the failed coup, and noted a successful one would have put American troops serving in Turkey at risk. Erdem, who is also head of Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s Turkey unit, said another invite was sent by TOBB, the Ankara-based Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey, to worldwide companies that work with its members. He added that this was not plotted inside of Turkey, the plotters acted inside Turkey according to “a scenario prepared outside”.
The president had previously said that foreign states could have been involved, while not giving clues as to which countries might be responsible.
The Turkish President also announced that the Telecommunication Directorate (TIB) will be closed soon.
The Turkish president lashed out at Washington and the country’s other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies a day after the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S. Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford, met with Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim – an encounter created to try to narrow the rift that has developed since the July 15 coup attempt.
Yildrim also met at his office with Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli on Monday and discussed the reforms.
Yildirim said that if the coup had succeeded, “there would have been no constitution, no law, our parliament would have been shut and the political will eradicated”.
The failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016, resulted in the deaths of at least 246 people and wounded over 2,200. Hopefully, the implementation of the state of emergency will continue successfully.
Erdogan, criticized in the West for the scale of a post-coup crackdown, told RAI: “Italy should be attending to the mafia, not my son”.
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And he lashed out at the United States for dragging its heels over Ankara’s request to extradite him, describing it as “a huge obstacle” to Turkey’s fight against terror. The authorities also arrested 65 persons in Isparta and 14 others at Mersin police department.
