Turkish officer linked to coup captured

Erdogan, who was in the Aegean resort of Marmaris when the coup struck late Friday, flew to Istanbul where he had stayed since, appearing before supporters each night.

Days after a failed coup attempt in Turkey, the country’s jets carried out cross-border strikes against Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq, killing some 20 alleged militants, state media reported Wednesday.

WikiLeaks said the almost 300,000 emails from the AKP Party of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan were obtained a week before the coup but publications was moved up “in response to the government’s post-coup purges”.

WikiLeaks’ release of the emails also comes at a tense time for relations between the United States and Turkey, a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member and a potential ally in a fight against the self-proclaimed Islamic State to Turkey’s south in Syria.

“The state of emergency in Turkey won’t include restrictions on movement, gatherings and free press etc. It isn’t martial law of 1990s”, he wrote on Twitter. In a crackdown on Gulen’s suspected followers, more than 60,000 soldiers, police, judges, civil servants and educators have been suspended, detained or placed under investigation.

In addition to denying his own involvement, Gulen “condemned” the coup, saying: “I have always been against military interventions in domestic politics”.

Such allegations have led the US ambassador to Turkey, John Bass, to issue a statement denying the claims, saying, “This is categorically untrue, and such speculation is harmful to the decades-long friendship between two great nations”, reports USA Today. But the rebellion wasn’t supported by the military’s top brass and was quashed by loyal government forces and masses of civilians who took to the streets.

“I would not expect a major impact, the way we saw a rush to safe assets after Brexit, but there will be questions raised about Turkey’s role”, said Keith Wade, chief economist at asset management company Schroders.

Erdogan’s suggestion that the death penalty in Turkey could be reinstated has sent shudders through Europe and sparked warnings such a move would be the nail in the coffin of its already embattled European Union bid.

The emails date back to 2010, with the most recent marked July 6 2016, a week before the military coup attempt.

Parliament voted 346-115 to approve the national state of emergency, which gives new sweeping powers to President Erdogan.

However that transpires, global investors in the country will clearly be worrying about the risks of doing business in the country and may adopt a more cautious approach that sees them reduce their exposure to Turkish assets, which would exert downward pressure on the lira.

Erdogan broke down in tears and vowed revenge at a funeral for a friend and numerous other 290 Turks killed in the failed coup. Kerry said no extradition request for the Pennsylvania-based cleric, Fethullah Gulen, has arrived yet.