A spokesperson for Erdogan’s administration said that journalists’ dismissal was not related to their professional duties, but to possible criminal conduct.
Advertisement
The series of tough measures Turkey took in the coup’s aftermath, in return, has drawn concerns from the worldwide community. Amnesty International argues that Erdogan’s government is violating suspects’ rights with its imposed crackdown. Suspects will be answering to investigations on the coup.
“Yes, it was the most critical point of my political life”, Erdogan said in referring to the coup attempt, labeling it “an attack on the people”.
During the July 2016 Turkish coup d’état attempt, President Erdoğan blamed the group FETÖ. The attempt was performed by a faction ruling government’s party and the other one composed by dissidents. Thousands of Gulenists have been cleared from government jobs in recent years, a process that has escalated since the coup attempt.
President Erdogan called on Europe for a joint effort against terrorism.
But after the Kremlin claimed last month that Erdogan had apologised to Putin over the incident, Moscow ORDERED the lifting of a string of economic sanctions including an embargo on Turkish food products and the cancellation of charter flights to the country.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.
“We have lived up to our responsibilities as a G-20 member, a good member of the European Union council and a good member of the OECD and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation”, the ambassador said, highlighting Turkey’s faithful compliance with global norms.
Berat Albayrak, the energy minister and Erdogan’s son-in-law, said the government would take care to ensure that anyone not involved in the coup conspiracy is not harmed during the crackdown.
Turkey’s air force has supported the state of emergency by calling for “absolute obedience” to the chief of the military General Staff.
He underlined that the adoption of the state of emergency, however, was a “legal measure” approved by the parliament under its constitution. There are even allegations that Erdogan stage managed the coup in order to use it as a pretext to further his authoritarian rule. He mentioned that 8,838 of those arrested are soldiers, 2,101 are judges and prosecutors, 1,485 are police officers, 52 are local authorities and 689 are civilians, as reported by the Hurriyet daily.
Advertisement
The country accuses USA -based preacher Fetullah Gulen and his Gulenist Terror Organization or Parallel State Structure (FETO/PDY) of being behind the failed coup and has called for his extradition to Turkey to face trial. At least 270 people were killed on both sides.
