The report emerged less than a week after a failed coup in Turkey reportedly left more than 200 people dead.
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The White House has come out against the coup attempt and emphasized that Turkey has a “democratically-elected civilian government”, but has encouraged the Erdogan government to be lawful in its investigation.
He identified “structural and individual” intelligence failures during the coup attempt and also said that work was underway to restructure the army, NTV reported.
“The measure is to protect basic rights and freedoms”, he said following National Security Council and cabinet meetings in Ankara.
In a statement Thursday, Steinmeier said it’s in Turkey’s interest to “keep the state of emergency only for the duration that is absolutely necessary and then immediately end it”.
Another 14 generals are still in detention as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan continues his crackdown on those he blames for the failed coup.
The Ministry of Education accused them of links to Fethullah Gulen, a US-based cleric the Turkish government says was behind Friday’s uprising.
“They have indicated they will hand it over”, the official said.
US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen has urged Washington to reject Turkey’s efforts to extradite him and labelled as “ridiculous” the claim he was behind an attempted coup.
He also said a debate around restoring the death penalty was “deeply worrying”.
According to Andalou, Ozturk blamed the coup on Gulen and his followers, though he claimed he did not know who in the military was responsible for planning it. Gulen has denied any involvement, and has demanded that Erdogan’s government provide evidence.
Turkey is an European Union candidate country, though it is not expected to join for many years if ever.
Authorities have suspended or detained close to 35,000 soldiers, police, judges and civil servants since the coup bid, stirring tensions across the country of 80 million which borders Syria’s chaos and is a key Western ally against Islamic State.
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Turkish media says the government is expanding its purge of suspected coup backers and has begun to revoke the licenses of 21,000 teachers at private schools.
