Turkey gave up the death penalty in 2004 as part of a programme of reforms required to become a candidate to join the EU.
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“Twenty years ago, I clearly stated my support for democracy and I said that there is no return from democracy in Turkey”, Gulen said Saturday. The suit contended Gulen ordered sympathetic police, prosecutors and judges in Turkey to target members of a rival spiritual movement critical of his teachings.
Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders said Ankara’s reaction to the failed coup needs to be “proportionate”.
The official said the fatalities excluded “terrorists”, in reference to those who acted against the government. However, people using VPNs reported that they were able to circumvent these blocks, and live streaming services such as Periscope and Facebook Live were used, especially in Turkey’s capital, Ankara, and Istanbul. The prime minister did not explain the discrepancy.
Turkey’s pro-Kurdish HDP opposition, parliament’s third largest party, said it would not support any government proposal to reintroduce the death penalty.
And now, the coup may provide him with an excuse to grab even more power, in a country normally based on democratic rule and secularism, experts said.
“Let me be very clear.no country can become an European Union state if it introduces the death penalty”, she said.
Among those arrested was General Bekir Ercan Van, commander of the Incirlik air base from which US aircraft launch air strikes on Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq, an official said. The coup was declared by a group within the army calling itself the Council for Peace in the Homeland, saying it was intervening “to ensure and restore constitutional order, democracy, human rights and freedoms”.
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, stressed the importance of the rule of law prevailing, and said ministers shared concerns about “what is happening in Turkey in these hours” – a reference to the rounding up of suspects.
But the coup attempt lost momentum after Erdogan returned from vacation at the seaside resort of Marmaris. EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn had stated that it appears Turkey’s government “prepared” arrest lists before the weekend coup attempt and had been waiting for the right moment.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States would entertain an extradition request for Gulen, but Turkey would have to present “legitimate evidence that withstands scrutiny”.
Turkey has detained some 6,000 people. They include hundreds of judges and prosecutors, and more than two dozen generals.
Turkey’s state-run news agency says the Interior Ministry has sacked close to 9,000 personnel across the country, following Friday’s foiled coup attempt.
“The factions within the military opposed to Erdogan who did this just gave him carte blanche to crack down not only on the military but on the judiciary”, said Aykan Erdemir, a former lawmaker from the main opposition party and now a senior fellow at the USA -based Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
The government alleges the coup conspirators were loyal to moderate US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Mr Erdogan has often accused of trying to overthrow the government.
“France has condemned the coup, you can’t accept the military taking power”, he said. It also reported that 70 generals and admirals, including former air force commander General Akin Ozturk, have been arrested.
He told France 3 television that European Union ministers would reiterate on Monday when they meet in Brussels that Turkey, which has applied to join the bloc, must conform to Europe’s democratic principles. The attempted coup resulted in 265 deaths and rocked a key US NATO ally. Both were killed when rebel soldiers opened fire on protesters at the Bosphorus bridge in Istanbul on Friday night.
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Saudi-owned broadcaster Al-Arabiya says Saudi authorities detained Turkey’s military attache to Kuwait while he was at the airport in the eastern Saudi city of Dammam.
