Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday accused the head of US Central Command of “siding with coup plotters” after the general said American contacts were being swept up in Turkey’s post-coup crackdown, deepening a rift between NATO’s two largest militaries.
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Turkey blames prosecutors linked to the US -based cleric for masterminding the failed military coup earlier this month.
On Thursday the Turkish government undertook a major shake-up of its military forces after the July 15-16 coup attempt.
The Pentagon is flatly rejecting allegations by Turkey’s president that the USA military was somehow involved in or in any way supported the recent failed coup in that country. “It’s not up to you to make that decision”, he said, referring to Votel’s comments. “You are taking the side of coup plotters instead of thanking this state for defeating the coup attempt”.
Nearly 1,700 officers, including 149 generals and admirals accused of involvement in the failed July 15 coup attempt, were sacked on Wednesday. “You can never convince my people otherwise”.
The United States said it had been monitoring the situation closely. “It is inevitable. We don’t want to think about the bad scenarios”, he said.
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu warned this week that relations will suffer even more if Mr Gulen’s extradition is denied. Turkish officials have suggested the United States could extradite him based on strong suspicion, while President Barack Obama last week insisted Turkey must first present evidence of Gulen’s alleged complicity. A total of 15,846 people have been detained in connection to the failed coup earlier this month, according to Efkan Ala, the country’s interior minister, state broadcaster TRT reported.
Just days after the coup, Turkey’s presidency of religious affairs also made clear that there would be no religious services for those who were killed in the coup.
The government is now going after Gulen’s network of schools and other institutions overseas.
In Germany, the governor of the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg said his regional government received a letter from the Turkish consul-general in Stuttgart asking it to check and “reevaluate” organizations, facilities and schools “which in the opinion of the Turkish government are, it says, “controlled” by the Gulen movement”.
On Friday, the European Union affairs ministry suspended 16 people and dismissed six others as part of the investigation into the Gulen movement, while the public prosecutor’s office in the Aegean coastal town of Izmir issued orders for 203 police personnel to be apprehended, Anadolu said.
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This announcement followed the shutting of other media outlets and detention of journalists with suspected Gulenist ties. He has also gone after the media, shuttering dozens of outlets and detaining scores of journalists.
