Turkey protests at Germany’s barring of Erdogan address

“If we have mercy on those who carried out this coup attempt, we will be the ones to be pitied”, he said.

Turkey’s trade minister estimated the cost to the national economy of the July 15 failed military coup, and its aftermath, at $100 billion.

The damages include destroyed buildings, military equipment, decline in orders overseas for goods and a drop in tourism, he told a gathering of Turkish reporters in Ankara.

“It would be absolutely unacceptable for Germany to even mention democracy, the rule of law, human rights and freedoms to Turkey after this point”, Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag wrote in a furious response on Twitter.

Erdogan, in his speech, directly called on the United States to extradite a former imam who the Turkish president alleges was the mastermind behind the plot to overthrow the democratically elected government.

With mass purges of suspected Gulen supporters well underway in all state institutions, the media and some private companies, the Turkish Football Federation said on Sunday all its affiliated boards had resigned for the sake of “security checks”.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan began a rare meeting with representatives of global companies operating in Turkey, the latest government effort to manage the political and economic fallout from last month’s failed coup attempt.

In an apparent reference to an electronic board at Vienna airport used by the Kronen Zeitung newspaper to screen headlines, Erdogan said: “Unfortunately, some European countries show adverts at their airports like “Do not go to Turkey”.

The Turkish army’s ability to perform day-to-day functions – such as tackling IS, guarding the Turkey-Syria border and stopping Europe-bound refugee flows – will be tested by the sacking of some 40 percent of Turkey’s military leaders, Korb said.

Their capture came after Turkey dismissed almost 1,400 more members of its armed forces and stacked a top military council with government ministers on Sunday in moves to tighten control of the military after the coup.

Turkey has demanded his extradition, but US officials have demurred on whether a dossier submitted to the Justice Department represents a formal extradition request.

Germany’s Foreign Ministry had no immediate comment, but German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel on Monday defended the court’s decision as “absolutely OK and also lawful”. About 18,000 people have been detained or arrested, a lot of them from the military, and authorities have said the purge of those suspected of links to Gulen in the military will continue. Defense Minister Fikri Isik said expulsions from the army were not over.

Meanwhile Turkey on Monday said it had arrested 11 fugitive soldiers suspected of involvement in an attack on Erdogan’s hotel during the night of the coup.

“Citizens who don’t have any relationship with this organization have nothing to worry about, they should rest easy nothing will happen to you, but those who do should fear”, the deputy prime minister said. Turkey hosts Incirlik Air Base, a major hub for the air forces of Turkey and the United States that has played a significant role in air strikes against Islamic State extremists.

More than 10,000 people, mostly military personnel, have been arrested in a crackdown that followed the coup.

However, the cleric has condemned the coup, and in an interview with CNN broadcast on Sunday repeated his denial that he had been involved in it.