Democracy, the rule of law, the separation of powers and fundamental freedoms must be defended.”Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, however, has ordered massive reprisals following the failed coup attempt, with senior generals among more than 2,800 military personnel arrested”.
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Turkish authorities have made clear they will show no mercy in the wake of the coup, which sparked fears of chaos in the strategic North Atlantic Treaty Organisation country of 80 million people.
Erdogan on Wednesday was helming an emergency meeting of Turkey’s National Security Council, the highest advisory body on security issues.
He also pointedly rebuffed criticism from Western governments that have accused him of going too far in efforts to neutralize suspected opponents.
Turkey’s President has refused to rule out the death penalty for the thousands of people arrested following a violent failed military coup Friday.
“We will remain within a democratic parliamentary system”.
“Reintroduction of the death penalty would be in breach of Turkey’s obligations under global human rights law – a big step in the wrong direction”, he said.
Gulen, in a statement released Tuesday, said Erdogan “once again demonstrated he will go to any length necessary to solidify his power and persecute his critics”.
Turkey will remove the movement of US -based cleric Fethullah Gulen “by its roots” so it can never betray the Turkish people again, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Tuesday, vowing to furnish USA authorities with evidence of his wrongdoing.
Turkey’s citizens may have beaten back an attempted coup by the military – a fact that can only be described as a historic victory in the nation’s context – but it must show humility in the face of grand events.
Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus defended the crackdown on judiciary officials in an interview with CNN-Turk, saying many of them would have played a role had the coup attempt succeeded. His Interior Ministry has fired almost 9,000 police.
On Tuesday, authorities shut media outlets deemed to be supportive of Gulen.
In addition, 257 people working at the office of the prime minister were dismissed and the Directorate of Religious Affairs announced it had sacked 492 staff including clerics, preachers and religious teachers. About 8,000 police officers, including in Ankara and the biggest city Istanbul, have also been removed.
It has revived talks of the death penalty, imposed media restrictions, blocked websites and placed a ban on academics leaving the country. The reason for the discrepancy was not immediately clear.
Gulen, 75, whose religious movement blends conservative Islamic values with a pro-Western outlook, lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania, but has a network of supporters within Turkey. There’s a reasonable line of thinking that had the coup succeeded in its attempt – and there’s increasing evidence that it nearly did – Washington would have managed to go along with the outcome, given its earlier history of tacitly tolerating the meddling of the military.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest confirmed Ankara had filed materials in electronic form with the United States government, which officials were reviewing. He said he thought that resignations would be accepted only from the deans who are thought to be followers of Gulen.
“This is resembling the pre-genocidal periods in fascist Europe”.
“We will not compromise on financial discipline”, he said, adding “there will be no liquidity problem”.
Meanwhile, the broadcasting licenses for at least two dozen Turkish radio and TV stations have been canceled for alleged links to Gulen, whose extradition Turkey says it will seek from the United States.
Erdogan struck a more conciliatory note in his comments to Al Jazeera, saying he did not want to link the issue of US use of Turkey’s Incirlik airbase with Ankara’s request for Gulen’s extradition.
Both Isik and Cavusoglu canceled plans this week to attend a Washington meeting of the USA -led coalition against the Islamic State.
“We need to be more sensitive”. Relations between our countries are based on interests, not feelings.
“All told, Turkey will plunge ever deeper into a period of wholesale crackdown on everyone Erdogan views as remotely able to challenge him politically and ideologically while thoroughly intimidating their broader moderate and secular constituencies”, White said.
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“There will be legal evidence collected in this investigation and we will present all of this to the Americans as part of our extradition request”, he said.
