Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said in a statement on Saturday, “Any country that stands behind [Gulen] is no friend of Turkey, is engaged in a serious war with Turkey”. “The number could surpass 6,000”, Bozdag said in televised comments. “However, our duty is not over. We shall rapidly conduct the cleansing operation so that they can not again show the audacity of coming against the will of the people”.
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Turkey has said it is putting together an extradition request for the cleric.
Erdogan’s supporters of gathered in front of his Istanbul home to call for the plotters to face the death penalty, which Turkey outlawed in 2004 as part of its efforts to join the European Union.
The turbulence has raised concern about the stability of Turkey, a key North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member which is also part of the global coalition against Islamic State jihadists in Syria.
The putsch added to the turmoil in Turkey after a wave of deadly attacks blamed on Islamic State jihadists and Kurdish rebels fighting the state.
“In democracies, decisions are made based on what the people say”.
Mourners attend a funeral of three people killed during the violence. “You will not manage to break our unity and solidarity”.
The U.S. government has said it would consider any formal request. There were also reported clashes between the few remaining coup plotters resisting arrest. “I believe they will be captured shortly”, the official told Reuters.
At nightfall, thousands of flag-waving people rallied in Istanbul’s Taksim Square, Ankara’s Kizilay Square and elsewhere. “But I think we’re all concerned, and we have expressed that concern, that this not fuel a reach well beyond those who engaged in the coup but that they strengthen the democracy of the country, strengthen the process, and use it as a moment to unite the nation”.
The Turkish government claims cleric Fethullah Gulen was behind the plot. Many members of the judiciary have also been arrested.
The government also dismissed almost 3,000 judges and prosecutors from their posts, while investigators were preparing court cases to send the conspirators to trial on charges of attempting to overthrow the government.
Speaking to state-run news channel TRT Haber, Bekir Bozdag said keeping Gulen “wouldn’t befit the solidarity, cooperation, alliance and friendship between Turkey and the United States”.
The Obama administration has strongly denied any involvement or responsibility in recent events in the country.
“We will continue to clean the virus from all state bodies because this virus has spread”. He also called on Washington to extradite Gulen.
Gulen said he rejected all military interventions, as he had personally suffered after the coups of the 1990s. The military, founded on secularist ideals, has been a staunch opponent of Gulen. “There is a slight chance, there is a possibility that it could be a staged coup”, Gulen told reporters through a translator in Pennsylvania. “If anything, he’s simply going to turn up the volume”, said Professor Howard Eissenstat of St Lawrence University. Gulen, who lives in exile in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, has denied any involvement.
Incirlik airbase, used for the US-led coalition bombing campaign against Islamic State extremists in Syria and Iraq, was again opened for operations after being shut for a day after the coup attempt.
A Turkish government official said that the commander of the base, Gen. Bekir Ercan Van, was among those detained.
Anadolu published pictures of the arrest of former air force commander Akin Ozturk bent forwards, facing a wall with hands tied behind his back.
Of the generals and admirals brought before court, 11 have been put under arrest so far as of Sunday night.
About 6,000 people had been detained as of Sunday following rolling gun battles and airstrikes Friday between opposition forces and those loyal to the Erdogan administration.
A popular theory in Turkey speculate that pro-Gulen factions within the army and the country’s military council launched the coup in an attempt to save themselves from a government’s planned purge of high-ranking officers during a meeting on August 1 as part of Erdogan’s major fallout with Gulen that started in 2013.
Security forces rounded up 52 more military officers for alleged links to the coup.
The Anadolu Agency said on July 17 the warrant was issued against Colonel Ali Yazici.
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The suspects are being charged with membership of an “armed terrorist organisation” and attempting to overthrow the government by force, the Hurriyet Daily News reported.
