U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday that Turkey must provide hard evidence that Gulen was behind the foiled coup if it wants him extradited, and that mere allegations of wrongdoing wouldn’t suffice.
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The government has promised to respond to the attempted coup with a heavy hand, making mass arrests in what is increasingly looking like a well-planned witch hunt.
Turkey’s president on Wednesday declared a three-month state of emergency following a failed coup.
“We are witnessing a crackdown of exceptional proportions in Turkey at the moment”, said Andrew Gardner, Amnesty International’s Turkey researcher.
The latest insurrection by some military units was launched late Friday, but security forces and protesters loyal to the government quashed the rebellion.
“To be able to take the most efficient steps in order to remove this threat as soon as possible, which is a threat to democracy, to the rule of law, to the rights and freedoms of our citizens in our country”.
The state of emergency status will see a huge shift of power to Erdogan, who can take over all of the Prime Minister’s responsibilities, should he wish to do so.
Simsek insisted that the state of emergency would be different to those imposed in the country previously and that the rule of law will be upheld.
The government hopes the state of emergency will be lifted within 40 to 45 days, said Yildirim’s deputy, Numan Kurtulmus.
Anti-American sentiments swirl among Erdogan supporters, casting a shadow on U.S.-Turkey relations.
“We will use it in a fashion closer to our allies like France and others”, he told reporters as Parliament was debating President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s declaration of a three-month state of emergency on Wednesday.
Erdogan says the pro-government death toll in the botched coup was 246. She emphasized: “When nearly all of the people martyred during the coup were Erdoğan supporters, how can one allege that it was his scheme?”
The vote comes after a government spokesman said on Thursday that the country would suspend its obligations under the European Convention of Human Rights after last week’s attempted coup.
On Russia, Erdogan suggested that the two pilots who shot down a Russian jet on the Syrian-Turkish border in November may have been under orders from the coup plotters.
While Erdogan is seeking to consolidate the power of his elected government after the rebellion, his crackdown could further polarize a country that once enjoyed a reputation for relative stability in the turbulent Middle East region.
There are also fears that key institutions within Turkey are in crisis.
“The fact that so many judges have been detained, never mind the workload at the courthouses, will render them inoperable”, said Vildan Yirmibesoglu, a human rights lawyer.
Despite living in self-imposed exile in the US since 1999, Gulen has maintained a level of influence in Turkey second only to that of Erdogan. Regardless, Washington’s unclear path to act on the extradition bid and Turkey’s seemingly quiet finger pointing at the West outlines a division between the United States and Turkey, (who, incidentally, possesses NATO’s second largest military).
He was more diplomatic on Turkey-U.S. ties, saying cooperation in the fight against the Islamic State should not be mixed up with Ankara’s demand for the extradition of Fetullah Gulen.
In other moves against education, Turkey demanded the resignations of 1,577 university deans and halted foreign assignments for state-employed academics.
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The government has also revoked the press credentials of 34 journalists who it alleges are connected to Gulen, according to Turkish media. State media estimate the total is nearing 60,000 people.
