Mr. Erdogan, who broke down into tears at the funeral of one of his supporters, moved first against the army, where 6,000 allegedly pro-coup soldiers have been arrested and await charges. About 2,600 people work in the office. Anadolu reported the group includes former Air Force commander Gen. Turkish media on Monday said he had denied involvement, saying he had tried to prevent the attempted putsch.
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Officials jailed thousands of suspected coup participants, with reports indicating that 208 government supporters and 24 anti-gvernment plotters died in the violence.
Washington has said it will honour an extradition request – but only if there is evidence linking him to crimes. His Interior Ministry has fired almost 9,000 police. Civilians were also killed when they took to the streets following a call for protest from President Tayyip Erdogan, facing down tanks and helicopters.
Around 50,000 soldiers, police, judges, civil servants and teachers have been suspended or detained since the coup attempt, stirring tensions across the country of 80 million which borders Syria’s chaos and is a Western ally against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS).
Mr Yildirim said the justice ministry had sent a dossier to United States authorities on Gulen, who has a network of supporters within Turkey.
Yavuz described the assault as a “terror attack”. It was not immediately clear what remarks Bass was referring to. The EU commissioner dealing with Turkey’s long-stalled bid for membership of the bloc said it appeared that the government had already prepared a list before the coup of people to be rounded up.
Erdogan’s task is to re-impose stability amid the turmoil, our correspondent adds, and to reassure the country and Turkey’s allies overseas that he is not embarking on a witch-hunt against his many critics.
“No country can become an European Union member state if it introduces death penalty”, she said.
On Friday night, rogue elements of the military attempted to overthrow Turkey’s democratically elected government.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim confirmed on Tuesday that an official request has been sent to the USA government for the extradition of Fethullah Gulen, who was accused by Ankara of plotting a failed military coup.
“We have sent four dossiers to the United States for the extradition of the terrorist chief”.
“The government’s response to the failed coup is widening”, Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from the capital, Ankara, said.
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“In the aftermath of such a traumatic experience, it is particularly crucial to ensure that human rights are not squandered in the name of security and in the rush to punish those perceived to be responsible”, Zeid said in a statement.
