More than 35,000 people have been imprisoned, of whom 17,000 have been placed under official arrest, and tens of thousands more deferred since the July 15 coup, which establishments guilt on USA -based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen and his factions.
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Turkey has issued an arrest warrant for former global football striker Hakan Sukur, the state-run news agency Anadolu reported Friday, amid a crackdown in the wake of last month’s coup attempt.
Turkish officials say they have handed over documents to US officials concerning Gulen.
Since the failed coup, Turkey immediately increased pressure for Gulen’s extradition from the United States.
The head of the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusolgu, said on Friday that Ankara had received “positive signs” from the United States on the extradition request.
Biden’s visit on August 24 will be the first by a high-ranking US official since the failed coup there.
The request by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s office claims it has determined the coup was staged upon orders by Gulen and requests that he be arrested prior to the submission of a formal extradition request.
Turkey on Saturday criticized a top United Nations human rights official for saying Ankara should stem its “thirst for revenge” after a failed coup attempt and denied people’s rights were being violated in a purge of officials and professional ranks. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accuses the cleric, a one-time ally, of plotting the coup- charges Gulen denies.
Erdogan’s critics say he could use the purge to crack down broadly on dissent.
Tens of thousands more have been suspended from their jobs.
Last month a coup by the Turkish military failed to oust President Erdogan.
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Since the July 15, around 26,000 people have been detained or arrested, mostly from the military, on suspicion of being involved in the failed putsch. “This is turning into a witch hunt, losing its credibility”, Deputy Prime Minister Tugrul Turkes, formerly a member of the nationalist opposition party and now a member of the ruling AK Party founded by Erdogan, told CNN Turk.
