Meanwhile, state-run Anadolu Agency reported Wednesday that pro-coup soldiers who attacked a hotel where Erdogan and his family were vacationing said they were ordered to “capture an important terrorist leader”.
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“We will dig them up by their roots so that no clandestine terrorist organization will have the nerve to betray our blessed people again”, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told lawmakers Tuesday, the New York Times reported.
Hundreds of people gather at Kazilay Square in Ankara to show their support for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan following a failed coup attempt that left more than 300 people dead and sparked a major government crackdown.
Capital punishment was abolished in 2004 as part of Turkey’s bid to join the European Union, and EU officials have said its reinstatement would be the end of Ankara’s attempts to join.
Turkish authorities have blamed Gulen, a one-time Erdogan ally, of being behind the attempt to topple Turkey’s government and called on the USA to arrest and extradite him.
“Other states could be behind this coup attempt”.
The Guardian reports the Erdogan government has now fired more than 15,000 employees at the education ministry, 257 officials at the prime minister’s office, and 492 clerics at the directorate for religious affairs, while demanding the resignation of 1,500 university deans.
The army, judiciary, security and civil service have all been targeted following Friday’s coup attempt, with 6000 military personnel arrested, more than two dozen generals awaiting trial, 9000 police officers sacked and nearly 3000 judges suspended. The eight, who deny involvement, have applied for asylum in Greece, saying they fear for their safety if they are returned.
But the interior ministry said that the order “will not affect civilians”, according to Al Jazeera’s Stefanie Dekker, who was reporting from Ankara. At least 24 coup plotters were also killed.
Addressing hundreds of supporters outside his Istanbul residence, Mr Erdogan responded to calls for the reintroduction of the death penalty with the simple statement: “You can not put aside the people’s demands”.
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Gulen and Erdogan were once political allies before falling out over corruption allegations leveled at the Turkish president.
