Also late Saturday, Prime Minister Binali Yilidirim said that the presidential guard is to be completely disbanded.
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President Recep Tayyip Erdogan launched a widespread crackdown following the attempted coup, arresting thousands of service personnel and sacking or suspending thousands of government officials, teachers and university rectors. It was joined by other opposition parties and President Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamic Justice and Conservative Party (AKP), which has ruled Turkey since 2002.
The official number of those in custody since the Jul 15 putsch has surged above 13,000 soldiers, police, justice officials and civilians in a wave of arrests that has alarmed North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies and European leaders. The party has lost clout since Erdogan came to power more than a decade ago with votes from a pious Muslim class that was sidelined under Turkey’s past secular rulers.
Nearly 300 of its officers have been detained after some of them forced TV news presenters to read statements stating that martial law had been declared during the abortive coup attempt.
Speaking to anti-coup protesters in the central Turkish province of Sivas on Sunday, National Education Minister Ismet Yilmaz said: “We will operate these [public] schools which are owned by the state, the licenses of teachers who work there have been suspended, we will carry on education [services] with newcomers”. The decree also extends the legal time a person can be detained to 30 days.
Halis Hanci, described as Gulen’s right-hand man, apparently entered Turkey two days before the abortive coup, a presidency official told reporters.
The preacher – who lives in a secluded compound in rural Pennsylvania and whose foundation runs a global network of schools, charities and media interests – has strongly denied the accusations against him.
Police also detained Kerime Kurmas – reportedly Turkey’s only female fighter pilot – accusing her of being one of the rebel air force officers who flew thundering F-16 jets low over the roofs of Istanbul on the coup night.
The rapid pace of arrests since the coup attempt has anxious many of Turkey’s Western allies, who say they see the country going down an increasingly authoritarian road.
But Turkey has argued that European Union leaders simply do not understand the seriousness of the threat to Turkish democracy. Around 5,837 had been held in custody including 3,718 soldiers and 123 generals.
The group said it had received reports that detainees were being denied food, water and medical treatment and being held in “stress positions” for up to 48 hours.
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Gulen’s presence in the United States has strained Turkey’s ties with its North Atlantic Treaty Organisation partner which uses Turkish bases to strike Islamic State jihadists in Syria.
