EU calls Turkey’s crackdown on media “worrying”

The Turkish government has ordered by decree the dismissal of 149 generals and admirals, 40 per cent of military personnel in that rank, as the Supreme Military Council convened to elect replacements.

The council, which determines promotions and retirements, met for five hours Thursday under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Binali Yildirim.

Tens of thousands of other state employees with suspected links to Gulen have been suspended from their jobs in sectors including education, health care, city government and even Turkish Airlines.

The U.S.-based preacher Fetullah Gulen, who heads FETO according to the Turkish government, has been residing in Pennsylvania since 1999.

Earlier on Wednesday, the authorities ordered the detention of another 47 journalists – just several days after similar warrants were issued for 42 reporters.

“My concern has to do with the fact that the actions here are very tough and the principle of proportionality is not always central”, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in Berlin.

Yildirim, accompanied by the top brass, visited the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, modern Turkey’s founder, before the council meeting, and vowed to overcome all terror threats.

The media organizations include 16 television stations, 23 radio stations, 15 magazines, 29 publishing houses and 45 newspapers – including a Gulen-linked children’s television station and opposition daily Taraf.

In the wake of the coup the military has already lost control of the coastguard and gendarmerie, which will now be the responsibility of the interior ministry.

The rapid pace of arrests since the failed coup has anxious many of Turkey’s allies, who say they see the country going down an increasingly authoritarian road.

This month’s events have exacerbated strains in Turkey’s relations with the United States. Turkey has branded Gulen’s movement a terrorist organization and wants the cleric extradited.

Bozdag said Gulen’s extradition was an urgent matter, not least because he said Turkey was receiving intelligence that the 75-year-old cleric might flee, possibly to Australia, Mexico, Canada, South Africa or Egypt. Egypt said it had not received an asylum request. His movement, known as Hizmet, or “Service” in Turkish, set up hundreds of schools and businesses in Turkey and later overseas.

BRUSSELS (AP) – The European Union has called the crackdown on media in Turkey “worrying” and warned Ankara to respect fundamental freedoms.

Human rights group Amnesty International says it has received credible evidence of detainees being subjected to beatings and torture, including rape, since the coup attempt.

The EU judges, in a statement, said they were concerned at reports that more than 2,700 members of the judiciary had been removed and the death penalty might be restored in Turkey. The drop was the biggest fall in 22 years.