Turkish officials have said they believe the coup plot was put into force in haste before the Council in August, when many officers suspected of links to Gulen would have been discharged.
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“The fact that a number of military officers – participants in the coup attempt – previously served in Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina reinforces the assumption that the terrorist organization FETO operated freely in these countries”, said the Turkish agency, citing Turkish officials.
Washington has said it will only extradite Gulen if Turkey provides evidence of wrongdoing.
Turkey launched a wide-ranging purge of the army and civilian state institutions following the failed coup aimed at unseating President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Incredibly, among the newspapers ordered closed was Zaman, which was nationalized for Gulen ties way back in March. “At this point, the reasoning is that prominent employees of Zaman are likely to have intimate knowledge of the Gulen network and as such could benefit the investigation”. Forty-two journalists and columnists from various media outlets were also ordered detained Monday.
Earlier this week, the government issued an additional 42 arrest warrants for journalists, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
The state of emergency grants extraordinary powers to the government and any decree it issues carries the weight of law.
The decree from Turkey’s cabinet of ministers was published late on Wednesday in the country’s Official Gazette.
Turkish special forces were also hunting around the Mediterranean resort of Marmaris for a group of commandos thought to have tried to capture or kill Erdogan on the night of July 15.
Here are the facts and figures about the coup and the ensuing legal measures against the alleged plotters and supporters.
The Turkish military confirmed on Wednesday that 8,651 soldiers had taken part in the failed coup.
The military said 35 planes, including 24 fighter jets, 37 helicopters, 74 tanks and three ships had been used by the coup plotters, NTV reported.
Six years later, it is mired in tension with neighbors and allies, dominated by a president seeking to increase his constitutional powers and now enmeshed in a purge of large sectors of society after an uprising by renegade military officers.
Turkey blames the botched putsch on US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, who strongly denies the accusations and demands that the United States resist calls for his extradition.
The EU judges, in a statement, said they were concerned at reports that more than 2,700 members of the judiciary had been removed and the death penalty might be restored in Turkey.
And on August 9, the Turkish president is scheduled to meet Russian leader Vladimir Putin in an effort to fix strained ties following Turkey’s apology for shooting down a Russian fighter jet a year ago.
Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in the United States since 1999, denies involvement and says the coup may have been orchestrated by Erdogan himself to justify a crackdown, a suggestion the president has roundly condemned.
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In an op-ed in the New York Times, Gulen wrote that if members of his “Hizmet” (Service) network had been involved in the attempted coup they had betrayed his ideals, saying Erdogan’s accusations revealed “his systematic and risky drive towards one-man rule”.
