Citing an unnamed Turkish official, Reuters reported Wednesday that 6,500 employees of the education ministry have been suspended a day after the government revoked 21,000 licenses for teachers employed by private schools. Erdogan says it will make it more efficient to round up, question and try people accused of supporting the coup.
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President Erdogan and his government blame Gulen for orchestrating the coup attempt on Friday in which over 200 people were killed and 1,400 injured.
The site said it was releasing the emails, which could possibly contain material embarrassing to the government, earlier than planned “in response to the government’s post-coup purges”, though the latest of the emails dates to a week before the coup took place.
Obama offered USA assistance for Ankara’s investigation into the attempted coup and pressed Erdogan to proceed according to the democratic principles outlined in Turkey’s constitution, Earnest said.
Secretary of State John Kerry reiterated Wednesday that the US government has made it clear to the Turkish government that it must present hard evidence of Gulen’s involvement in illegal activities if they want Gulen extradited – not just accusations and speculation.
Turkish state media say a further 32 judges and two military officers have been detained by authorities during the crackdown on alleged conspirators following last week’s failed coup.
Asked if Erdogan was exploiting the coup attempt to get rid of his enemies, Trump said “I don’t think we have a right to lecture”.
Military tanks were on the street in Istanbul and Ankara announcing that the army seized control of the country.
Gulen is the spiritual leader of the Hizmet movement, which promotes moderate Islam across dozens of countries and is dubbed a terrorist group by the Turkish government.
“It is important for all of us that Turkey continue to be a strong North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally because Turkey is on the border of all the instability, all the violence we have seen in Iraq and Syria”, Stoltenberg said.
The removal of thousands of officials has alarmed global observers, with the United Nations urging Turkey to uphold the rule of law and defend human rights.
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Hussein also warned Turkey it would be in violation of global law if it were to reintroduce the death penalty in the wake of the coup, a move Erdogan has repeatedly mooted since last weekend.
