Erdogan blames the failed coup on Gulen and demanded his extradition from the U.S. Gulen condemned the coup and denied any responsibility.
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“The coup was prevented, but we can’t say the threat is gone”, said Fikri Isik, according to the state-run Anadolu news agency.
A harsh crackdown is underway in Turkey following the foiled coup, with the arrest of thousands of suspects from the military, the police and the judiciary.
Ties between the United States and one of its most crucial military allies, Turkey, were rapidly fraying Monday as Washington criticized the widespread purges that have followed an abortive coup d’état, and Turkey’s Prime Minister said there would be “a questioning of our friendship” if the US didn’t extradite the man Ankara believes masterminded the failed putsch.
Turkey on Sunday also reopened its airspace to military aircraft, allowing the USA -led coalition to continue air operations against Islamic State militants. He has shaken up the government, cracked down on dissent, restricted the media and renewed fighting with Kurdish rebels.
The US secretary of state John Kerry previously said the US will examine any evidence Turkey presents regarding Mr Gulen, but that Ankara had not yet submitted a formal request for extradition. On Monday, according to Anadolu, prosecutors entered Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey, which is key to the USA -led campaign against the Islamic State group.
In a sign of the ongoing tension, a soldier opened fire at the main courthouse in the capital Ankara, said a senior official, who added that he was detained and there were no casualties.
“How President Erdogan responds to his victory over the coup conspirators and what he does to address the widespread grievances they attempted to harness will determine how Turkey moves forward”, he says.
The coup plotters sent warplanes firing on key government installations and tanks rolling into major cities, but the rebellion – which was not supported by the military’s top brass -was quashed by loyal government forces and masses of civilians who took to the streets.
His voice cracked and he wept as he spoke with reporters after a Cabinet meeting and repeated a question his grandson had put to him: “Why are they killing people?”
Over 290 people, including over 100 military officials, killed during coup bid. Anadolu reported the group includes former Air Force commander Gen.
Meanwhile, a Greek court will Thursday decide the fate of eight Turkish military officers who fled across the border by helicopter after the failed coup in Turkey and who Ankara wants to see extradited.
“Let’s hang them!” chanted crowds in Ankara’s central Kizilay square late on Saturday.
“This uprising is a gift from God to us because this will be a reason to cleanse our army”, Erdogan stated earlier on Friday night, addressing a large and desperate crowd of his supporters.
Those fears are what triggered the launch of the coup Friday, suspects Metin Gurcan, an independent security analyst and former adviser to the Turkish military.
The group behind the putsch, which called itself the Council for Peace in the Homeland, said it was necessary to stop the increasingly authoritarian president from undermining Turkish democracy. Annual leave was suspended for more than 3 million civil servants, and those already on leave were ordered back to their posts.
The violence shocked the nation of nearly 80 million, once seen as a model Muslim democracy, where living standards have grown steadily for more than a decade and where the army last used force to stage a successful coup more than 30 years ago.
More than 290 people were killed Friday in a failed military coup in Turkey, which has strained Ankara’s ties with the US amid Turkey’s accusations that the U.S.is harboring Gulen, who is blamed by the Turkish government for plotting the coup attempt. “We are the ones saying today rule of law has to be protected in the country; there is no excuse for any steps that take the country away from that”.
Trained as an imam, or prayer leader, Fethullah Gulen gained notice in Turkey some 50 years ago, promoting a philosophy that blended a mystical form of Islam with staunch advocacy of democracy, education, science and interfaith dialogue.
Someone, somewhere in the Turkish government had a list of political opponents to be purged ready to go after the coup failed. So far, officials have not offered evidence he was involved.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said those involved with the failed coup would “receive every punishment they deserve”.
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The death penalty was abolished in Turkey in 2004 as this had been one of the conditions necessary for it to join the bloc, though nobody has been executed since 1984.
