Authorities have rounded up almost 3,000 suspected military plotters, ranging from top commanders to foot soldiers, and the same number of judges and prosecutors after forces loyal to President Tayyip Erdogan crushed the attempted coup on Saturday.
Advertisement
In an interview with Haberturk television, Labour Minister Suleyman Soylu went even further, saying: “The United States is behind the coup” and adding it had now to hand over Gulen. Three of the country’s top generals have been detained, alongside hundreds of soldiers.
The crackdown appeared to intensify a longstanding push by Erdogan to root out the influence of followers of USA -based Fethullah Gulen – a cleric who was at one point an ally of Erdogan’s government. Before the chaos, Turkey – a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member and key Western ally in the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) – had been wracked by political turmoil that critics blamed on Erdogan’s increasingly authoritarian rule. Prayers were read simultaneously from Turkey’s 85,000 mosques at noon to honor those who died in an attempted military coup.
Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said around 6,000 people had been detained in “clean-up operations” and warned that the number would rise.
Among the dead are many civilians and police loyal to the government, while those arrested include high-ranking military officers and 2,700 judges.
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says the failed military coup attempt did not interrupt the fight against the extremist group Islamic State (IS).
“It will allow him (Erdogan) to crack down on liberty and freedom of association, assembly, expression and media in ways that we haven’t seen before and find strong public support within the country”, he said.
The Turkish government has also issued dozens of arrest warrants for judges and prosecutors and detained military officers.
But Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said Sunday that operations against the Islamic State group had resumed from the base.
The 75-year-old preacher has categorically denied any involvement in the plot and suggested it could have been staged by Erdogan himself.
Turkey has also demanded the extradition of eight people thought to have been involved in the putsch who landed in a Black Hawk military helicopter in Greece.
Erdogan called on the United States to extradite Gulen but at a news conference Saturday in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, Gulen strongly denied any role in or knowledge of the coup.
Advertisement
Erdogan and Putin, who were feuding over the shooting down of a Russian jet until last month, will meet in the first week of August, Anadolu said.
