European Union making “serious mistakes” over failed Turkish coup, says Turkish minister

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, told Anadolu Agency that Navy Rear Admiral Mustafa Ugurlu failed to report after Turkish authorities issued a recall for him to return to his home country last month.

Trend News Agency, citing Turkish state-run Anadolu Agency’s Turkish-language service, officially names the man as Rear Admiral Mustafa Zeki Uğurlu.

Turkey has been incensed by what it sees as Western concern over its post-coup crackdown, but indifference to the bloody putsch itself, where more than 240 people were killed, many of them civilians. Turkish officials dismiss such claims, saying the purges are justified by the gravity of the threat posed by the putsch.

Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern has said Europe needs to think again about Turkey’s possible European Union membership.

The abortive coup on July 15, in which rogue soldiers commandeered tanks, fighter jets and helicopters in a bid to seize power, has raised concern about the stability of Turkey, a key member of the US -led coalition fighting Islamic State and battling an insurgency at home by Kurdish militants.

“They and their collaborators may go into some individual actions, assassinations”.

North Atlantic Treaty Organisation said on Wednesday that Turkey’s membership of the military alliance was “not in question”, despite the tumult in the country.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, welcomes Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Konstantin palace outside St.Petersburg, Russia, on Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2016.

“We need to be on the alert from now on”.

Ugrulu is the subject of a detention order in Turkey and has been expelled from the armed forces, the report added.