Erdogan Begins Promised Purge After Attempted Coup

He said a total of 7,543 had been detained since Friday, including 6,030 military personnel.

“It was obvious that a coup attempt would be made”.

It also shattered fragile confidence among Turkey’s allies about security in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation country, which is a leading member of the US-led coalition against Islamic State.

While he recognized the need to apprehend the coup plotters, Kerry said: “We caution against a reach that goes beyond that”.

While they illustrated the deepening frustration with his government’s response to the failed coup, which has even included allegations by Turkish government ministers of US complicity in the violence.

Erdogan and Gulen were allies until police and prosecutors, seen as sympathetic to the latter, opened a corruption investigation into Erdogan’s inner circle in 2013.

The investigation led to the resignation of the ministers of economy, interior, and urbanization. His movement called Hizmet includes think tanks, schools and various media enterprises.

A senior official said Monday that F-16 jets guarded the Turkish airspace overnight, after a faction within the military launched an attempted coup late Friday against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan has long accused Gulen, a former ally, of trying to overthrow the government, but Washington has never found the claims compelling.

Erdogan rushed back to Istanbul from a Mediterranean holiday and called on people to defy the coup plotters’ orders of a curfew and stage a rally in support of his government.

Investors also expect easier policy from the Bank of Japan and the Bank of England while markets price in little chance of any hike in USA interest rates this year. “It could be meant for court accusations and associations”.

Johannes Hahn said Monday it appears Turkey’s government “prepared” arrest lists before the weekend coup attempt and had been waiting for the right moment. But little evidence has been presented to the public.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed on July 17 to purge the “virus” within state bodies, during a speech at the funeral of victims killed during the coup bid he blames on his enemy Fethullah Gulen. “In a democracy, whatever the people want they will get”. This was the reason that people supporting the call of their President came out on the streets to resist and thwart the coup efforts.

Turkey has also protested against U.S. backing of the Kurdish YPG force fighting ISIL in Syria, citing its links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, with which Turkey is at war. Several suicide bombings in Turkey this year have been blamed on YPG members or people affiliated with the group.

The US has tried to tread carefully on the issue.

In February, Mr Erdogan’s chief adviser warned that permission for the United States to use Incirlik could be revoked over its continued support of the YPG.

The official said the fatalities excluded “terrorists”, in reference to those who acted against the government. Power to the base was cut off on Saturday and local authorities were not permitting United States personnel to move on or off the base, the American embassy in Ankara said. Erdogan’s position, which the Turkish government will discuss with opposition parties, appeared to be a step too far for European Union ministers, even as the European Union faces a particularly tricky time with Turkey in the next three months.

“The coup d’etat was foiled thanks to an alliance between Erdogan and the secular arm of the army”, said Fuat Keyman, director of the Istanbul Policy Center.

In another potential source of friction, the U.S. federal aviation administration on Saturday barred private and commercial flights between the two countries citing the security situation.

Flights resumed late Saturday into Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport after being halted for almost 24 hours but Turkish Airlines said Sunday it had to cancel 196 flights because of a backlog of traffic.