Turkish PM: ‘We have confessions which prove Gulen’s involvement in the coup’

Addressing a crowd of supporters in Istanbul on Saturday, Mr Erdogan said: “I call on the United States and President Barack Obama: Dear Mr. President, I told you this before, either arrest Fethullah Gulen or return him to Turkey”.

Meanwhile, Gulen rejected the notion that he or his supporters staged the coup late Friday night, insinuating that Erdogan, himself, staged the coup in the country, in order to solidify his power in Turkey.

Capital punishment was abolished in 2004 as part of Turkey’s bid to join the European Union, and several European officials have said its reinstatement would be the end of Turkey’s attempts to join.

He also held his first global bilateral meeting, hosting Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili at his presidential palace in Ankara.

Speaking after a meeting of the National Security Council in Ankara lasting almost five hours, he said the state of emergency was needed “to remove this threat as soon as possible”.

“This measure is in no way against democracy, the law and freedoms”, Erdogan said Wednesday after a meeting with Cabinet ministers and security advisers.

The crunch meetings come as controversy grows over the scope of the legal crackdown against those behind the coup plot, with global leaders urging Turkey to obey the rule of law.

“I am aware that false words, attributed to me, are now being circulated on social media, largely by users who appear to be sympathetic to Fethullah Gulen, suggesting a lack of respect for Turkey’s democratically elected government”, Bass wrote.

“I do not know how long the rebuilding will take”.

But despite the rising tensions in recent days, the Turkish president said Ankara must continue its solidarity with America – and insisted the issue of Gulen’s extradition needs to be separated from the Pentagon’s use of Incirlik airbase in the fight against Islamic State.

Since then, thousands of people in the judiciary, police forces and military have been sacked or detained.

“Today, we are determined more than ever before to contribute to the solution of regional problems hand in hand with Iran and Russian Federation and in cooperation with them”, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) quoted Erdogan as saying during a telephone conversation Monday.

A soldier allegedly linked to the attack on a hotel where Erdogan had been vacationing during the foiled coup was arrested in southwestern Turkey, the state agency Anadolu reported Thursday.

On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in Brussels that his country has “a formal process for dealing with extradition requests” and that Turkey “must send evidence, not allegations”. It claimed 20 fighters were killed.