Even if approved by a judge, it would still have to go to Secretary of State John Kerry, who can consider non-legal factors, such as humanitarian arguments. It also raises questions about the effectiveness of the military, courts and other institutions being purged.
Advertisement
“A government should not decide the hiring and firing”, he said. “This government doesn’t want to listen to others”.
“We will remain within a democratic parliamentary system”.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan right, wipes his tears during the funeral of Mustafa Cambaz, Erol and Abdullah Olcak, killed Friday while protesting the attempted coup against Turkey’s government, in Istanbul, July 17, 2016. Gulen has denied any involvement.
Turkish authorities have said coup plotters used the air base as main station for the takeover attempt.
Under the US-Turkey extradition agreement, Washington can only extradite a person if he or she has committed an “extraditable act”.
“On the grounds of suspicion, he can be easily extradited”.
“No democracy shall allow for soldiers, prosecutors, police, judges, and bureaucrats, to take orders from an outside organization instead of the institutional bureaucracy”, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in remarks broadcast early Tuesday.
The Turkish government says it was masterminded by Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric based in the United States who has a wide following in Turkey. Those in custody include the commander of the Third Army Corps, General Erdal Ozturk, who could face charges of treason.
He has denied the allegations.
Some have expressed concern that Erdogan – who said he was nearly killed or captured by the mutineers – was using the opportunity to consolidate power and further a process of stifling dissent. No reason was given for the detention.
But I can assure you that we are committed to reviewing quickly as soon as we receive materials. Nevertheless, if Ankara is serious, the Syrian government can not but welcome the closure of the Syrian-Turkish border, through which much of Daesh’s fighters, weapons and supplies presently flow.
Pro-democracy meetings and rallies have been held in all of the major cities of Turkey.
In the uproar following the attempted military coup in Turkey, relations between Washington and Ankara, already badly strained, appear to be headed for new difficulty. The bank’s Monetary Policy Committee said it has reduced its overnight marginal funding rate from 9 percent to 8.75 percent.
Mogherini, however, was straight-forward in saying that if Turkey were to institute the death penalty, it would lose all hope of joining the EU. Scenes of mobs attacking – at times lynching – coup plotters have filled social media streams, and there has been violence directed at minority neighborhoods, journalists, and even storefronts not displaying the Turkish flag.
“We closed the shop this weekend because Islamic people with big beards were walking around the neighborhood”, Topuz said.
“U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein called on Turkey to uphold rule of law and provide fair trials”.
The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), a right-wing grouping and the smallest of the three opposition parties represented in parliament, said it would back the government if it decides to restore the death penalty.
Prime Minister Yildirim said the justice ministry had sent a dossier to U.S. authorities on Gulen, whose religious movement blends conservative Islamic values with a pro-Western outlook and who has a network of supporters within Turkey.
In the CNN interview Monday, he said refused to rule out the death penalty for the thousands arrested despite warnings from the European Union that reintroducing capital punishment would dash Turkey’s chances of joining the the EU.
“I’m very concerned. It is exactly what we feared”, he said in Brussels. He said the July 15 victory over the plotters was “epic” and that no coup in the history of Turkey had been as brutal as the one that the elected government survived. Some high-ranking military officials involved in the plot have fled overseas, he said.
A senior Turkish official described the travel ban on academics as just a “temporary measure”.
Gulen continues to exert considerable influence in Turkey, with supporters in the media, police and judiciary.
Advertisement
Suzan Fraser reported from Ankara.
