Turkish soccer officials resign to help govt coup probe

The country accuses Fethullah Gulen a U.S.-based Islamic cleric of orchestrating the coup, in which part of the military commandeered helicopters, tanks, and fighter jets in an attempt to topple the government.

All members of the Turkish soccer federation’s affiliated boards have resigned for “security checks” amid a wide-ranging state investigation into the failed July 15-16 coup, the federation said in a statement on Sunday. The cleric, who heads an worldwide network of schools, charities and businesses, denies any knowledge of or participation in the coup.

The committees include those for arbitration, discipline, ethics, licensing, referees, anti-doping, health and foreign relations.

Erdogan spokesman Ibrahim Kalin criticized a decision by German authorities not to permit messages from politicians in Turkey to be shown on a video screen Sunday at the anti-coup rally that drew about 20,000 people. Turkey’s Western allies condemned the attempted couph, but have been rattled by the scale of the resulting crackdown. Germany’s highest court rejected a complaint against that ban Saturday.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has said that there is “no place in Germany” for any side to “bring domestic political tensions from Turkey to us in Germany and intimidate people with other political convictions”.

Interior Minister Efkan Ala said more than 18,000 people had been detained over the failed coup, and that 50,000 passports had been cancelled. Police plan to have 2,700 officers in place.

Germany is home to Europe’s largest ethnic Turkish diaspora.

The decree gives the president and prime minister the authority to issue direct orders to the commanders of the army, air force and navy.

The new wave of expulsions and the overhaul of the Supreme Military Council (YAS) were announced in the government’s official gazette just hours after Erdogan said late on Saturday he planned to shut down existing military academies and put the armed forces under the command of the Defence Ministry.

Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has introduced new powers bringing the military further under civilian authority.

The coup saw a rogue group within the military unsuccessfully attempt to depose Erdogan, who has since launched a huge crackdown on those suspected of complicity.

Erdogan, also said he wants the chief of general staff and the national intelligence agency, to report to the presidency directly, as well as moves that would require constitutional change.