Mr Cavusoglu said Turkish authorities have established that the military attaches who fled Greece had left for Italy on a ferry with their families on August 6th.
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Over 240 people were killed, and nearly 2,200 injured when fighter jets, helicopters, and tanks controlled by the military opened fire on civilians to suppress the attempted coup. But many Turks are angered by what they see as a lack of Western sympathy over a violent coup in which 240 people died.
Since then, there have been frequent mass rallies in support of democracy and against the coup. Pollster Metropoll said on Thursday its monthly survey showed a surge in approval for Erdogan to 68 percent in July from 47 percent a month earlier.
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Ankara was in contact with European nations so that the two Athens-based generals whom he labeled as “traitors” could be sent back to Turkey. Ankara is already pressing Washington to extradite US -based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who it accuses of orchestrating the coup. Gulen has denied any involvement in the coup. But he says Erdogan is using the purges to shore up his own power in Turkey.
Erdogan and other Turkish officials say they believe Gulen, a former ally of Erdogan who became an adversary three years ago, is behind the July 15 attempted coup in Turkey, which left almost 300 people dead. A senior government official said Thursday that 35,000 people had been detained for questioning, of which 17,740 were formally arrested to face trial. A further 11,597 people have been released while 5,685 remain in custody, the official said. They had been told to return home but are said to have fled to Italy instead.
Asked about reports that Ugurlu was seeking asylum in the U.S., Cavusoglu said Turkey had asked for information from Washington but hadn’t yet received a response. A total of 160 members of the military wanted in connection with the failed coup are still at large, including nine generals, officials have said.
Mr Cavusoglu told Turkish private broadcaster NTV the deadline for Turkish diplomats recalled to Ankara as part of investigations into the attempted coup expired on Thursday.
Cavusoglu repeated Turkey’s demand that the US extradite Gulen. “It wasn’t the cook or the servants”, Kurtulus Aykan, acting head of Turkey’s mission to the Netherlands, was quoted as saying.
Education Minister Ismet Yilmaz said work permits had been cancelled for 27,424 people previously employed in the education sector. I suspected nothing. That’s the talent of this movement.
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Cavusolgu said suspensions applied to 300 members of Turkey’s foreign ministry, including two ambassadors.
