Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said another coup attempt is possible, but maintained it would not be easy as authorities are now “more vigilant”. Another 1,500 in the Finance Ministry were fired, as were hundreds more in the Religious Affairs Directorate, the Family and Social Policy Ministry, and the prime minister’s office. “If he wants a lesson in democracy, he can very easily get a lesson in democracy from us”, Erdogan said on al-Jazeera.
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Mr. Ulgen said the coup plotters may have been driven to act by a sense that a purge was coming anyway.
Around a third of Turkey’s roughly 360 serving generals have been detained since the coup attempt, a second senior official said, with 99 charged pending trial and 14 more being held.
Erdogan’s government said it has fired almost 22,000 education ministry workers, mostly teachers, taken steps to revoke the licenses of 21,000 other teachers at private schools and sacked or detained half a dozen university presidents in a campaign to root out alleged supporters of a U.S.-based Muslim cleric blamed for the failed insurrection.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday declared a three-month state of emergency in the wake of last week’s thwarted coup in his country. “He further urged that the investigations and prosecution of the coup’s perpetrators be conducted in ways that reinforce public confidence in democratic institutions and the rule of law”.
Josh Earnest says the Turkish government has now sought his extradition.
Days after a failed coup attempt in Turkey, the country’s jets carried out cross-border strikes against Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq, killing some 20 alleged militants, state media reported Wednesday.
Regarding Turkey’s demand that Gulen be extradited, Yildirim compared the situation to the US hunt for Osama bin Laden after the September 11 attacks.
Mr. Erdogan, who broke down into tears at the funeral of one of his supporters, moved first against the army, where 6,000 allegedly pro-coup soldiers have been arrested and await charges.
“Statements by the President and government officials that the death penalty could be brought in retrospectively as a punishment for those found to be responsible for the coup attempt are a significant concern, as this would violate human rights conventions to which Turkey is a party, and protections within Turkey’s constitution”, Amnesty International said in a press release provided to The WorldPost on Monday.
Although the special measure vastly increases state security powers, Erdogan vowed there would be “no compromise on democracy”.
“This parallel terrorist organisation will no longer be an effective pawn for any country”, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told Parliament. He is the founder of the Gulen movement and the inspiration figure for its largest organization, the Alliance for Shared Values.
Gulen has denied allegations that he was involved in the overthrow attempt and told reporters that he would have tried to stop any takeover had he known about it.
A former ally-turned critic of Erdogan, he suggested the president staged it as an excuse for a crackdown after a steady accumulation of control during 14 years in power. The US relationship with Turkey is being tested by Ankara’s request that Washington sends Mr Gulen back.
The airbase is key to the U.S.-led fight against Islamic State. “We are strategic partners”, Erdogan said.
Even if approved by a judge, it would still have to go to Secretary of State John Kerry, who can consider non-legal factors, such as humanitarian arguments.
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A request to extradite Gulen would face legal and political hurdles in the United States.
