Gülen recently accused Erdoğan of “blackmailing” the U.S. into extraditing him from Pennsylvania, where he lives, and urged Washington not to give in to Erdoğan’s pressure. He denies any involvement.
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Since the failed coup attempt Erdogan has imposed a state of emergency and launched a sweeping crackdown on those believed to be against him.
“Unfortunately, the West is supporting terror and standing by the coup plotters”, Erdogan said in a typically combative speech at his presidential palace, denouncing “those who we imagined to be friends”.
The US, for its part, offered a mild rebuke to Erdogan’s comments.
“We have such a request so that he does not escape, nothing happens to him or that he does not tamper with the evidence”, he said in his interview.
Kirby said “what matters is the partnership with Turkey is going forward”.
Already strained ties between North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies Turkey and the United States have been aggravated by the failed putsch, with some government ministers even alleging Washington could have had a hand in the plot, which USA officials firmly reject.
The Gulenist movement fell foul of the government after it revealed to the Turkish media the extent of corruption that was rife in Erdogan’s government in 2013, although the alliance between the two groups had long since been broken.
An Interior Ministry official, who declined to be named, described the arrested men as members of a “death squad” and said the overnight operation to catch them followed a tip-off from local villagers.
He said Turkey was taking effective steps against those who plotted to topple the government. “The government must release all detainees unless there is a reasonable suspicion that they have committed a recognizable criminal offense”.
“The serious human rights violations documented by an Amnesty International team on the ground in Turkey are alarming”, he said.
The football federation said in a brief statement released on its website that the TFF made a decision to cut relations with 94 officials, including local and global referees, assistant referees and observers, in addition to members of the local councils of referees. Erdoğan lamented that no Western leader had come to Turkey to express condolences and show solidarity with the Turkish people.
“Citizens who don’t have any relationship with this organization have nothing to worry about, they should rest easy nothing will happen to you, but those who do should fear”, the deputy prime minister said.
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“Mrs Mogherini should have first come to Turkey. (Investors) are not coming after the images revealed tanks were deployed on the streets, parliament was bombed”.
