A Turkish special forces police officer guards the entrance of the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey, August 5, 2016.
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Separately, a court ordered that 187 suspects’ assets be seized, according to Anadolu.
Supporters of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan wave Turkish flags as they gather in Istanbul’s central Taksim Square on July in the aftermath of Friday’s failed military coup attempt. Another 5,000 civil servants have been dismissed and nearly 80,000 others suspended, he added. “The punishment will be served outside through supervised released”, Bozdag said on Twitter.
Early Thursday, a auto bomb blew up at police headquarters in the eastern city of Elazig, killing five people including three police and injuring more than 200 people.
U.S. officials have said that the United States has a formal process for dealing with extradition requests and that Turkey must provide solid evidence of Gulen’s involvement. He has denied any responsibility.
Turkish police on Tuesday searched the offices of a nationwide retail chain and a healthcare and technology company, detaining executives who authorities accuse of helping finance Gulen’s network. It says Gulen’s followers spent four decades infiltrating the bureaucracy and security forces in a bid to eventually take control of the state. Sixty of the suspects, including Omer Faruk Kavurmaci, CEO of the Aydinli Group clothing retailer, were reportedly detained.
No one answered calls to Aydinli, which had sales of 928 million lira ($317 million) in 2015, nor to Eroglu, which reported revenue of 490 million lira previous year.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Wednesday that more than 4,200 businesses and organizations linked to Gulen had been shut down.
Turkey will grant early release to some 38,000 prisoners who committed crimes before July 1, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said Wednesday, amid reports of prison overcrowding after the failed coup. He added that the report also included other aspects of Germany’s assessment of Turkey that stretch beyond the leaked part of the document.
Gulen vehemently rejects the charges but Turkey has embarked on a relentless drive to expel what Erdogan calls his “virus” from all public institutions.
The government’s post coup attempt crackdown has raised criticism from some European nations and human rights organizations which have urged Turkey to show restraint.
Western criticism of the purge and Ankara’s demands US officials extradite Gulen have already frayed ties with Washington and the European Union, increasing tensions over an EU deal with Turkey to stem the flow of migrants.
He did not say why the reform was needed but Turkey’s prison population has trebled over the last 15 years.
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Turkey’s sharp rejection of Germany’s claims follows heightened tensions between Ankara and the West which were aggravated by the failed coup attempt on July 15, when a group of soldiers tied to overthrow the government, killing 240 people.
