85 generals, admirals charged in Turkey coup attempt

Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the measure was being taken to counter threats to Turkish democracy and wasn’t meant to curb basic freedoms. He added that it would be up to parliament to decide. Other media reports said police, military police and members of the coast guard also were removed from duty.

A group with control of units within the military, calling itself The Council for Peace in the Country besieged several public buildings in Ankara and Istanbul between Friday night and Saturday morning. The top brass did not support the coup. He said that about 10,000 supporters were at the airport to greet him when his plane landed.

Academics were banned from travelling overseas on Wednesday in what a Turkish official said was a temporary measure to prevent the risk of alleged coup plotters at universities from fleeing. 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?” A court remanded 26 generals and admirals in custody on Monday, Turkish media said.

The swift move against so many reflected the prior investigation, the government said.

Seventy-five-year-old Gulen, a former ally of Erdogan who lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania, has denied any involvement in the coup bid, and has suggested the president staged it as an excuse for a crackdown.

With Erdogan cracking down on thousands of people in the judiciary, education, military and civil service after last weekend’s failed military coup, a lawmaker from the main opposition party said the state of emergency created “a way of ruling that paves the way for abuse”.

The targeting of education ties in with Erdogan’s belief that the cleric, Fethullah Gulen, whose followers run a network of schools worldwide, seeks to infiltrate the Turkish education system and other institutions in order to bend the country to his will. The cleric’s movement, which espouses moderation and multi-faith harmony, says it is a scapegoat.

Obama “lauded the Turkish people’s resolve against this violent intervention and their commitment to democracy”, the White House said.

Washington has said it would consider Gulen’s extradition only if clear evidence was provided, prompting Turkish Prime Minister Yildirim to accuse the United States of double standards in its fight against terrorism.

The U.S. and Europe are struggling for a balanced response.

Yildirim said the normal US legal processes would not be good enough.

“More than 1,500 people in the ministry of finance, two members of the constitutional court and 200 members of other high courts- it is really unfeasible to imagine that evidence has been gathered about their contribution to the coup in such a short time so there is some amount of extra-judicial activity going on here, this is reminding me of a witch hunt and the justice ministry is promising the people that more with come”, Yesilada said. The decline of the military had already been achieved before this latest coup attempt. Western leaders have urged Turkey to show restraint in bringing those responsible to justice.

Earlier in the day, US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter said the military relationship between Turkey and the United States had not changed following last week’s failed military coup.

Turkey had imposed martial law-like emergency rule in the southeast of Turkey in 1987, allowing officials to set curfews, issue search and arrest warrants and restrict gatherings as the security forces fought Kurdish rebels in the region.

He told USA broadcaster CNN that he narrowly escaped death after coup plotters stormed the resort town of Marmaris where he was vacationing. That message was echoed by Germany, the EU’s biggest state.