As part of the crackdown, over 1,000 private schools and more than 1,200 associations and foundations believed to be linked to Gulen are set to be closed.
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Erdogan struck a darker tone, telling France 24 television that “for the past 53 years Europe has been making us wait”, and that no European Union candidate country “has had to suffer like we have had to suffer”. The former prime minister said “Turkey will take the necessary measures against those traitors who have no nation left on this territory after today”.
Turkish officials said on Friday that they will request the extradition of cleric Fethullah Gulen from his compound in Pennsylvania by formal means, after the US State Department offered legal assistance from the Justice and State departments.
Obama, speaking at a news conference, said he told Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in a call earlier this week that the United States had no prior knowledge of the abortive coup. This is extremely worrying and does not augur well for the future.
Turkey is no stranger to military coups and the army has overthrown four governments since 1960.
Gulen and Erdogan were allies at the beginning of the Erdogan’s government.
It is the first time a relative of Gulen has been reported detained since the July 15 events.
Furthermore, the coup itself seemed like an amateurish attempt at seizing power. Moreover, the coup leaders’ claim that they were acting in order to restore democracy sounded a bit hollow when they started to bomb the Parliament building in Ankara.
A week after renegade soldiers tried to oust him with guns, tanks and F16s, Erdogan’s government has detained over 13,000 people it suspects are state enemies, mainly soldiers but also police, judges, teachers and civil servants. A number of conspiracy theories have now emerged about who exactly was behind the coup.
Erdogan said Turkey has no choice but to impose stringent security measures in the wake of the attempted coup that killed about 290 people and was put down by loyalist forces and protesters.
Turkey has criticized the United States for not immediately handing over the cleric for prosecution.
And Ankara knows that overstepping democratic principles during these exceptional times could pose another threat, this time to Turkey’s foreign relations.
A restructuring of Turkey’s once untouchable military also drew closer, with a planned meeting between Mr Erdogan and the already purged top brass brought forward by several days.
While Gulen denies any involvement, Turkey has formally asked the U.S.to extradite the Muslim cleric, but Washington wants clear evidence of his involvement in the attempted coup.
Since then, people across Turkey, from diverse political, social, ethnic, and religious backgrounds, have shown their support to the democratically elected government and Turkish democracy by remaining on streets.
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Erdogan must stop his purges and accept the fact that there’s more to democracy than just elections. It was also reported that the government restricts the internet access freedom. This is what the worldwide community expects from Turkey, and nothing less.
