US Central Command Chief Denies Any Role in Turkey Coup Attempt

Turkish soldiers detain Staff Sergeant Erkan Cikat, one of the missing military personnel suspected of being involved in the coup attempt, in Marmaris, Turkey on July 25, 2016.

Turkey has also ordered the closure of a total of 131 newspapers, TV channels and other media outlets, while in total more than 50,000 people have lost their jobs.

Accusations by Erdogan and other government officials of direct involvement by the United States military and intelligence agencies, or retired military personnel, have become commonplace in the days since the attempted July 15 coup.

“Any reports that suggest Gen. [Joseph] Votel expressed support in any fashion for the actions of Turkish military officers who undertook illegal military action against the Turkish government are factually inaccurate”, agency spokesman Peter Cook said during a press briefing.

“Instead of thanking this nation that quashed the coup in the name of democracy, on the contrary, you are taking sides with the coup plotters”, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in an angry speech Friday at a police special forces headquarters in Ankara.

Ankara has demanded the United States extradite Fethullah Gulen, a cleric living in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania.

“They (the critics) say …”

European Union enlargement commissioner Johannes Hahn said he needed to see “black-and-white facts about how these people are treated”.

Meanwhile the probe into coup plotters shifted focus to the financing of Gulen’s activities in Turkey, with what appeared to be the first major arrests targeting the business world.

Asked about the US comments on losing Turkish interlocutors, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim echoed Erdogan’s feisty tone: “This is a confession. If the Gulenist generals are their friends, they are in the same class”. He said several army barracks used in the attempted coup would be moved away from Ankara and Istanbul to new locations.

Following a shake-up of the military on Thursday after almost half of its 358 generals were sacked, the top brass of the reshuffled armed forces met Erdogan at his presidential palace in Ankara. But the Supreme Military Council promoted almost 100 officers to generals to replace those discharged – undermining Cook’s comments.

Defense Minister Fikri Isik told broadcaster NTV on Friday the shake-up in the military was not yet over, adding that military academies would now be a target of “cleansing”.

The nationwide crackdown has also sought to wipe out Gulen supporters from the legal system, media, education and civil service.

“Those linked to FETO are being suspended while others who have links to FETO coup attempt are being fired from various state departments”.

The government has accused Gulen of having masterminded the failed July 15 coup, which left 290 people dead. The labor ministry said it was investigating 1,300 staff over their possible involvement.

Erdogan says Gulen harnessed his extensive network of schools, charities and businesses, built up in Turkey and overseas over decades, to create a secretive “parallel state” that aimed to take over the country.

Erdogan’s critics say he is using the purges to crack down indiscriminately on dissent and to tighten his grip on power.