Turkey’s ruling party on Friday instructed its local branches and party-led municipalities to purge themselves of suspected supporters of USA -based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is accused by the government of instigating the country’s failed July 15 coup.
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US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen has condemned Turkey´s judicial system after a court issued an arrest warrant that accuses him of ordering last month´s bid to topple President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Gulen strongly denies any involvement in the attempted putsch and the movement he leads insists it is a charitable network promoting tolerant Islam.
In the warrant, Gulen stands accused of “ordering the July 15 coup”, Anadolu reported.
Turkey deserves better understanding from its European partners over last month’s “outrageous” failed coup, the head of Europe’s top human rights organisation has said.
This is the ninth arrest warrant issued for Gulen by the government but the first alleging his involvement in the failed coup – the others accused him of involvement in a terrorist organization. He also spoke of the possibility of a separate visit by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden.
Since the coup attempt, almost 70,000 people suspected of links to Gulen have been suspended or dismissed from jobs in the civil service, judiciary, education, health care and the military.
Nazarbayev said the schools in question were strictly controlled by the Kazakh state and that 90 percent of the teachers were Kazakh nationals. If that proves to be the case, the extradition will not go forward and by all indications will elevate into a major diplomatic incident between the USA and Turkey. It also called on local branches to avoid “agitation and gossip” during the purges.
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The crackdown that has also targeted journalists accused of links to Gulen has set off alarm bells in the global arena. On Friday, Anadolu said 12 journalists who used to work for Zaman newspaper were formally arrested pending trial, including columnist Mumtazer Turkone.
