European foreign ministers will urge Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan today (18 July) to respect the law and human rights in dealing with defeated coup plotters, but have limited leverage over their strategic neighbour.
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Turkish prosecutors on Tuesday demanded two life sentences plus 1,900 years in prison for USA -based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara has blamed for masterminding a failed coup bid last month, local media said.
Gülen is accused of leading a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary, forming what is commonly known as a parallel state.
Concluding a yearlong investigation into his movement’s financial dealings, prosecutors in the city of Usak demanded that Gulen be punished with two life sentences plus 1,900 years in prison, the Anadolu Agency reported. Fethullah Gulen denied any allegation.
The group has used foundations, private schools, companies, student dormitories, media outlets and insurance companies to serve its objective of taking control of all state institutions, it added.
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) – Turkey issued a decree Wednesday paving the way for the conditional release of 38,000 prisoners, the justice minister said – an apparent move to reduce its prison population to make space for thousands of people who have been arrested as part of an investigation into last month’s failed coup.
Erdogan stated that the United States government have to choose between their partnership with Turkey and his former ally.
“It was a night of horror – but we weren’t scared for our lives, we were scared for our nation”, says Ravza Kavakci Kan, an MP with the governing AK Party, as we tour the destruction in parliament.
One factor that may dissuade the U.S. authorities from extraditing him is that the Turkish parliament is expected to consider bringing back the death penalty.
The cleric is accused of organising the botched coup. He said he was against introducing it but there was a lot of emotion among the Turkish people at the moment and that could not be ignored.
Turning to Europe, Erdogan said if what Turkey faced had taken place in the West, “they would both introduce capital punishment and declare a non-stop state of emergency”. “We will bring them to account with justice”, the prime minister said.
Police began searches in the Uskudar and Umraniye districts of Istanbul.
Turkish authorities blame the failed putsch on U.S-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen and his followers. The identity of the firms was not immediately clear.
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European Union nations have condemned Ankara’s crackdown on suspected followers of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is accused of being behind the coup, warning that the government’s actions could jeopardise the visa-free travel for its citizens that was promised in return for Turkey agreeing to take refugees deported en masse from Europe.
