Yildirim did not say whether the evidence provided by the Turkish government to the U.S. constitutes a formal extradition request. We must continue our cooperation with them.
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Gulen, meanwhile, said accusations linking him to the coup attempt were “ridiculous”.
Bessma Momani, a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance and Innovation, says Gulen and his followers are being unfairly scapegoated for initiating the coup attempt. We all know that Turkey is a longtime member of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and the Turkish Air Force is directly controlled by North Atlantic Treaty Organisation military institutions.
Turkish society was on the verge of a major disaster last Friday.
“We support the democratic government”.
Statements by the President and government officials that the death penalty could be brought in retrospectively as a punishment for those found to be responsible for the coup attempt are a significant concern, as this would violate human rights conventions to which Turkey is a party, and protections within Turkey’s constitution.
The US-Turkey relations chilled quite a time ago because of the policy of the Turkish prime minister and the US position on the Kurdish question.
Separately, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said his counterpart, Defense Minister Fikri Isik, assured him in a phone call on Tuesday that the coup and its aftermath would not affect Turkey’s support for the fight against the Islamic State group.
Erdogan told CNN in an exclusive interview Monday that the extradition request was coming soon.
According to the government, the attempted coup was lead by a network of officers loyal to an Islamic preacher in self-exile in the United States.
“The force of the tanks could not beat the force of the people”, he said.
Erdogan’s task is to re-impose stability amid the turmoil, and to reassure the country and Turkey’s allies overseas that he is not embarking on a witch-hunt against his many critics.
Adding that, “Turkey proved its allegiance to democracy and the rule of law by paying the high price of the lives of its citizens”.
“Turkey plays a central role in stemming the flow of foreign fighters, but the government may be distracted by internal issues”, it said in a note to clients.
“Today is there no capital punishment in America?”
Erdogan has even talked of reinstating the death penalty, which Turkey got rid of in 2004 as part of its efforts to join the European Union. “We condemn this coup and we are clear about our desire to see democracy sustained and flourish in Turkey”.
“We need unity… and brotherhood now”, he said.
More than 50,000 state employees have been rounded up, sacked or suspended in the days since the coup attempt.
Some 1,500 finance ministry officials have also been removed from their posts.
That followed the arrest of 6,000 military personnel and suspension of nearly 3,000 judges over the weekend. 103 generals and admirals are under interrogation.
Also on Monday, one of the coup’s alleged ringleaders, the air force commander Gen Akin Ozturk, appeared in court.
He called the putsch attempt “treason, a betrayal of the Turkish nation”. He was able to fly into Istanbul in the early hours of Saturday, after the rebel pilots had his plane in their sights but did not shoot it down.
He said yesterday that he might have died if he had left Marmaris any later.
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“The numbers seem excessive, but right now, this is about preventing the next wave of attacks against civilians and government buildings”, Erdogan’s press office said.
