After the coup attempt, which took place on July 15th, Ankara has been heavily criticized for its clampdown on opposition.
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Turkish media close to Islamist president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused retired four-star General John F Campbell of arranging the Turkish military’s attempt to overthrow the government on July 15.
He said: “I think the world should identify and reason with you because if the coup had succeeded, there could have been bloodshed”.
“We’ve made clear that we understand the Turkish government has a right and a responsibility, quite frankly, to their citizens to get to the bottom of this”, the spokesman said.
A senior official described the purges as “dishonourable discharge”. It has issued 89 arrest warrants for journalists, 17 of whom are already in custody. Tens of thousands of state employees have been dismissed for alleged ties to a USA -based Muslim cleric accused of masterminding the coup.
Berlin has also expressed its concern over the series of purges in Turkey following the recent coup attempt.
Tens of thousands of civil servants have been dismissed for alleged ties to Mr Gulen, according to Anadolu, from sectors including the judiciary, education, health care, local municipalities and ministries.
In the latest crackdown, Turkey closed over 130 media outlets on Wednesday, including TV stations and newspapers.
In Germany, the governor of the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg said his regional government received a letter from the Turkish consul-general in Stuttgart asking it to check and “reevaluate” organizations, facilities and schools “which in the opinion of the Turkish government are, it says, “controlled” by the Gulen movement”.
Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said Gulen had wanted to return to Turkey from his leafy compound in Pennsylvania, just like Iranian Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini did when he returned to Tehran from Paris in 1979 in the Islamic revolution.
Kirby also added that Turkey remained a member of the coalition to counterDaesh, and that the US was going to continue to look for ways to deepen and strengthen it going forward.
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu addresses the media in Ankara, Turkey, July 29, 2016. My worry is that the principle of proportionality is not always at the centre of this cracka ” somdown”.
“Of course, when a coup attempt like this happens in a country, it’s important to take action against the rebels with all the means and potential of a constitutional state”.
“There is no doubt that we will eradicate all terrorist organizations threatening our state, our nation and our territorial integrity”, Yildirim said, reading from a message he wrote in the mausoleum visitors’ book.
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The announcement came only a day after the Turkish government issued a new decree announcing that the gendarmerie and the coast guard would in future fall under the interior ministry and not the army.
