About 18,000 people have been detained or arrested, majority from the military, while authorities have said the purge of those suspected of links to Gulen in the military will continue.
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The backlash after the Jul 1 coup blamed on followers of the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen has affected every walk of life in Turkey and football is no exception.
Turkey should have a smaller but more expert army, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş said Monday in the wake of the July 15 attempted coup. If he does, Bozdag said, it would only be with the full knowledge of USA authorities.
Turkey’s president has accused the West of supporting and aiding terrorism and said the coup in his country was organised by foreign powers (US, Saudis, UAE).
The chairman of the joint chiefs of staff is visiting Turkey to address US troops and meet senior Turkish military officials.
Germany is home to roughly 3 million people with Turkish roots.
However TFF chief Yildirim Demiroren has said all the Super Lig, global matches and all other fixtures will be played as scheduled despite the coup.
Kurtulmus said German courts normally address cases very slowly, “yet the German Constitutional Court prohibited our president addressing the rally via teleconference in less than 24 hours”.
Turkey has called for Gülen’s extradition from Pennsylvania to face trial. “This is a clear double standard”.
More than 18,000 people have been detained, a lot of them from the military, while the government has issued decrees bringing the powerful armed forces more under civilian control.
Ratcheting up its clampdown on the military, Ankara on Sunday dismissed almost 1,400 military personnel, including a top aide to Erdogan, and confirmed it would close military schools and academies. “The armed forces will focus their energies on their fundamental duty”.
The tension comes at a time when relations between Germany and Turkey are already strained over the German parliament’s decision to brand as genocide the World War I-era Armenian massacre by Ottoman forces. Almost 70,000 people have been suspended from their jobs on suspicion of being involved in the movement, which runs schools, charities and businesses internationally. More than 10,000 military personnel have been arrested since the bid to overthrow the government.
“If we show pity to these murderers, to these coup plotters, we will end up in a pitiful state”, he said.
“Citizens who don’t have any relationship with this organization have nothing to worry about, they should rest easy nothing will happen to you, but those who do should fear. Sorry, but everything has a price”, Kurtulmus said.
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Also Monday, authorities captured two more people suspected of being part of a group of soldiers who had raided Erdogan’s seaside hotel in the town of Marmaris during the failed coup, bringing the number of suspects caught in the operation that began late Sunday to 11. One suspect was still on the run.
