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Turkey detains 42 journalists as Europe sounds alarm

EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said Monday the country “is not in a position to become a member any time soon and not even over a longer period”.

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Turkey has also taken 31 academics into custody.

Turkey abolished capital punishment in 2004, allowing it to open European Union accession talks the following year, but the negotiations have made scant progress since then.

Their families say that just before the coup the children were invited to a school cocktail party but were made to parade with guns, dress in army uniforms and guard their campus.

On July 25, the authorities issued warrants for 42 journalists as part of the coup investigation, according to local media.

Erdogan accuses him of being behind the coup attempt and has requested his extradition from the United States. After the failed coup attempt in Turkey, Nunn told CNN there was a sense of national pride permeating throughout Taksim Square.

Posters at the rally proclaimed “No to coups” and “We’re standing up for the republic and democracy”.

Over 13,000 people have been detained so far in a vast sweep in the wake of the July 15 coup bid, which the authorities blame on the reclusive US -based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen.

She was sacked from the pro-government Sabah daily three years ago for criticising government ministers who are under investigation for alleged corruption. And it has disbanded the presidential guard after already detaining almost 300 members suspected of plotting against Erdogan, and detained Muhammet Sait Gulen, a nephew of the cleric who lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania.

The flag-waving demonstrators in the city’s Taksim square reflected widespread rejection of the coup attempt in a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation country that has endured several coups in past decades. “Small-scale constitutional changes could be done through consensus”, Yildirim said.

Though the prime minister promised a fair trial for those detained, the rights group Amnesty International said there is credible evidence that detainees have been subjected to beatings and torture, such as rape. Gulen has denied any involvement in the failed insurrection that left about 290 people dead and was put down by loyalist forces and pro-government protesters. North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and European leaders have expressed alarm at the breadth and rapidity of the crackdown, which critics fear is an effort by Erdogan, to cement his hold on power and move the constitutionally secular nation toward an Islamist government.

“We can not show mercy to those who oppressed the people”, Albayrak told CNN Turk television in an interview.

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Tens of thousands of supporters of Turkey’s ruling and main opposition parties, usually bitter foes, rallied together on Sunday in support of democracy following a failed military coup as President Tayyip Erdogan tightens his grip on the country. The company accused them of “providing support” to the Gulenist movement.

Thousands of supporters from Turkish President Erdogan's AKP Party and the main opposition party CHP joined forces in Taksim Square Istanbul in an anti-coup rally