The government also suspended 15,200 state education employees.
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Turkey can not join the European Union if it reinstates the death penalty, a spokesman for the German government said on Monday, sending a clear message to President Tayyip Erdogan who has raised the possibility after a failed military coup.
Col. Yazici is one of the most senior military officers to be targeted in a government purge of the military following Friday’s failed coup attempt. This nation takes its strength from people, not from tanks.
During pro-government rallies over the weekend following the failed coup, calls for the restoration the death penalty for putsch plotters could be heard from the crowd. More than 1,500 people were wounded.
Officials on Wednesday raised the death toll from the violence surrounding the coup attempt to 240 government supporters.
“It is really nonsensical”, Ibrahim Kalin said.
On Monday, Turkish prosecutors began questioning 27 generals and admirals. Akin Ozturk, who has been described as the ringleader of the foiled uprising.
Ozturk has denied the allegation, saying he neither planned nor directed the coup, according to Anadolu.
Giving new figures, Yildirim said on Monday that 208 people were killed by the coup bid, including 145 civilians, 60 police and three soldiers.
New demonstrations of support were held throughout the country last night.
The government moved swiftly in the wake of the coup to shore up its power and remove those perceived as enemies. The military counts about 620,000 members and the police force has about 250,000. “They will be stronger after this” – Joy, Istanbul.
The European commissioner for regional affairs, Johannes Hahn, suggested Monday that Erdogan had already been ready for a crackdown.
What will happen to the military and judiciary?
Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus denied reports 14 naval vessels were missing and their commanders were seeking to defect. I feel alienated from the people in the days after the coup. “Therefore, anyone connected to this group will be exposed”.
Turkey will remove the movement of US -based cleric Fethullah Gulen “by its roots” so it can never betray the Turkish people again, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Tuesday, vowing to furnish USA authorities with evidence of his wrongdoing.
“I have no concerns personally”, Gulen said in an interview with several media outlets including AFP at his compound in the Pennsylvania town of Saylorsburg he has called home since 1999 under self-imposed exile.
“Turkey is a valued North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally with whom I stand in solidarity in this hard time”, he added. The ministers will also be meeting for breakfast with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. So far, such evidence hasn’t been produced.
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“Turkey is an important part of the Council of Europe and is bound by the European Convention on Human Rights, which is very clear on the death penalty”, she said.
