Erdogan has long accused Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, of running a “parallel network” inside government institutions and the military. Last week, Cmdr. Cemil Bayik of the Workers’ Party threatened increased attacks against police in Turkish cities. “Either Turkey or FETO”, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said last week, referring to Gulen.
Advertisement
A auto bomb exploded outside the police headquarters in Elazig on Thursday.
Moreover, three persons were killed and 217 others were wounded in another attack that also targeted a police station in Elazig city, also six other soldiers got killed and another six wounded in another explosion in Betali city, east of Turkey. Offices in the police station were left in ruins and filled with smoke after the bomb exploded in front of the complex, destroying part of the facade, CNN Turk footage showed.
A PKK operative was reportedly killed by responding police in Bitlis, news reports said.
Four soldiers were also injured in the attack.
Members of the public and police inspect the site of a vehicle bomb attack on a police station in the eastern Turkish city of Elazig on August 18, 2016.
The PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and European Union – resumed its 30-year armed campaign against the Turkish state in July 2015.
U.S. National Security Council spokesman Ned Price issued a statement condemning the attacks. The Turkish authorities have already removed thousands of officials from their posts across the country over links to coup perpetrators and to the Gulen movement.
Around 20,000 people have been formally arrested.
Advertisement
Erdogan has vowed to cleanse the state from the “cancer” of Gulen’s influence. But the Obama administration has said Turkey needs to provide clear evidence of criminal activity to satisfy U.S. due-process requirements as well as provisions of the U.S. -Turkey extradition treaty.
