Turkey president hints at death penalty for coup players
A Turkish official says more than 190 citizens, most of them military, and more than 1,400 people were wounded in Friday’s failed coup attempt.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government rules, said the fatalities excluded “terrorists” in reference to those who acted against the Government.
Turkey’s justice minister says his Government expects Washington to extradite US-based Islamic cleric Fetullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of orchestrating the attempted coup.
Speaking to State-run news channel TRT Haber, Bekir Bozdag said keeping Gulen “wouldn’t befit the solidarity, cooperation, alliance and friendship between Turkey and the United States”.
US Secretary of State John Kerry had announced earlier that Washington might consider extradition, but required evidence proving the cleric’s wrongdoing.
Bozdag said there wasn’t a single person in Turkey who doubted Fetullah Gulen was behind the attack
He said, “Does one need evidence to prove the existence of the sun? This is just as clear a matter.” He added that Turkey would be submitting the necessary documentation, but hoped the US would extradite without waiting for the paperwork.
Thousands of Turks are rallying again in the capital and other cities to show their support for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his party, whose leadership was challenged in a failed coup.
As night set yesterday, large crowds carrying Turkish flags streamed into Ankara’s Kizilay Square and Taksim Square in Istanbul after authorities called on the public to stay vigilant and continue to protect Turkish democracy.
Similar demonstrations were held outside the president’s residence in Istanbul, the mainly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir and the coastal cities of Izmir and Antalya, according to local media reports and footage.
Erdogan shed tears at a funeral two days after a failed military coup. His campaign manager, Erol Olcak, and the man’s 16-year-old son Abdullah Tayyip Olcak, were killed when renegade soldiers opened fire on protesters at the Bosporus bridge in Istanbul on Friday night. Yeni Safak journalist Mustafa Cambaz was killed by gunfire in Istanbul.
He gave signals that Turkey might reinstate capital punishment in the wake of Friday’s failed coup attempt.
“We want the death penalty,” chanted sections of the large crowd which gathered to hear Erdogan yesterday. He responded: “We hear your request. In a democracy, whatever the people want they will get.”
Adding that they will be in contact with Turkey’s Opposition parties to reach a position of capital punishment, “We will not delay this decision for long. Because those who attempt a coup in this country must pay.”
Turkey hasn’t executed anyone since 1984 and capital punishment was legally abolished in 2004 as part of its bid to join the European Union.