Erdogan blasts West over coup reaction
Print Edition
TURKISH President Recep Tayyip Erdogan once more blasted unnamed Western countries yesterday for what he said was support for the attempted coup on July 15 that left more than 270 people dead.
“The West is supporting terrorism and taking sides with coups,” Erdogan said, adding that forces unhappy with Turkey’s rise as a regional power were behind the coup. “They have actors inside (Turkey) but the scenario of this coup was written abroad,” he said during a speech at an event for foreign investors in Ankara.
Erdogan singled out Germany for criticism, after a court there ruled against allowing him to appear on a video link to address a crowd of about 30,000 supporters and anti-coup demonstrators in Cologne over the weekend.
The president said Turkey had sent Germany more than 4,000 files on what he said were wanted terrorists, but Germany did nothing. However, he said, courts quickly decided against him speaking at the rally.
Erdogan repeated a complaint that no foreign leader had visited Turkey after the failed coup, while France and Belgium received visits in solidarity after terror attacks there. “Those we considered friends are siding with coup-plotters and terrorists,” the president said.
The government says the coup was instigated by US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, a former Erdogan ally who has been living in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania.
Turkey has demanded his extradition, but Washington has asked for evidence of the cleric’s involvement, saying the extradition process must take its course.
Erdogan complained about the request for evidence, saying: “We did not request documents for terrorists that you wanted returned.”
Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag sent a second document to the United States yesterday seeking Gulen’s arrest, the state-run Anadolu news agency said. The minister said the second letter explained why there was an urgent need for the arrest.
The government has launched a sweeping crackdown on Gulen’s movement, which it says is a terrorist organization and which runs schools, charities and businesses internationally.
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