Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan addresses the audience as he visits the Turkish police special forces base damaged by fighting during a coup attempt in Ankara, Turkey, July 29, 2016.
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Amid calls for restraint from the U.S. and European allies, hundreds of listed conscripts were released from detention and Mr Erdogan announced he was dropping prosecutions against around 2,000 people alleged to have “insulted him”.
The rapid pace of arrests since the failed coup has anxious many of Turkey’s allies, with some saying they see the country, which is now under a state of emergency, going down an increasingly authoritarian road. Mind your own business! Erdogan, who is now Turkey’s president, called it “a judicial coup” attempt, while accusing Gulen and his movement of orchestrating it with the help of some “foreign forces”.
“You are taking the side of coup plotters instead of thanking this state for defeating the coup attempt”, Erdogan said in angry remarks at a military centre in Golbasi near Ankara, where air strikes left dozens dead during the failed putsch on July 15.
The Turkish president has said he will close down the country’s military schools as a crackdown continues following a failed coup.
Erdogan wants to bring the General Staff and the national intelligence agency directly under the president’s control, officials say, though he needs the support of opposition parties for such a change that would require a constitutional amendment.
Were the plotters endorsed by foreign states?
Turkey has demanded America extradites cleric Fethullah Gulen who Ankara suspects of being behind the 15 July plot to overthrow the leader. Cavusoglu continued Erdogan’s offensive approach saying, “We are anxious of West Europe’s and the entire West’s approach, few gave us full support during the coup attempt”.
“We are going to make our armed forces stronger and we are going to work towards making this country more secure”, he said. “If they are guilty, they will increase”, said Erdogan, who narrowly escaped capture and possible death on the night of the coup.
Erdogan lashed out at Gulen again on Friday, and accused the USA of being ungrateful to him for putting down the coup by a faction of army leaders.
Tens of thousands of people have been dismissed from their jobs, detained or arrested in the purges, which has affected the judiciary, the police, the military and the education system, among other sectors.
With long land borders with Syria and Iraq, Turkey is a central part of the US -led military operation against Islamic State.
“For one time only, I will be forgiving and withdrawing all cases against the many disrespects and insults that have been levelled against me”, he said.
“The number of those detained by the moment is 18,044 with 9,677 of the detainees facing prison, and 49,211 passports have been canceled”, Efkar Ala told press.
President Obama has also previously denied US involvement in the coup.
He said the post-coup attempt measures being carried out in the country’s institutions such as parliament, the National Security Council, council of ministers and others ministries are in line with the law.
Media outlets and journalists have been particularly affected by the crackdown tightening Mr Erdogan’s grip on power. Votel said the coup’s aftermath “will have an impact on the operations that we do”.
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Turkey blames Mr Gulen for orchestrating the coup attempt, something he denies. “They (later) switched to another app when they realised that ByLock was compromised”, said the official.
