Turkey purges police in the wake of failed coup attempt

Turkey purged its police on Monday after rounding up thousands of soldiers in the wake of a failed military coup, and said it could reconsider its friendship with the US unless Washington hands over a cleric Ankara blames for the putsch.

Nearly 20,000 members of the police, civil service, judiciary and army have been detained or suspended since Friday night’s coup, in which more than 200 people were killed when a faction of the armed forces tried to seize power.

The broad crackdown and calls to reinstate the death penalty for plotters drew concern from Western allies, who said Ankara must uphold the rule of law in the country.

Turkey is a Nato member and is also Washington’s most powerful Muslim ally.

Some voiced concern Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan was using the opportunity to consolidate his power and further a process of stifling dissent that has already caused tensions with Europe.

Turkey’s foreign minister said criticism of the government’s response amounted to backing for the bid to overthrow it.

A senior security official told Reuters that 8,000 police officers, including in the capital Ankara and the biggest city Istanbul, had been removed from their posts on suspicion of links to Friday’s abortive coup.

About 1,500 finance ministry officials had been suspended, a ministry official said, and CNN Turk said 30 governors and more than 50 high-ranking civil servants had been dismissed.

Annual leave was suspended for more than three million civil servants, while close to 3,000 judges and prosecutors have been suspended.

Turkish prime minister Binali Yildirim said 7,543 people had so far been detained, including 6,038 soldiers.

Some were shown in photographs stripped to their underwear and handcuffed on the floors of police buses and a sports hall.

A court remanded 26 generals and admirals in custody on Monday, Turkish media said.

Officials in Ankara say former air force chief Akin Ozturk was a co-leader of the coup.

The state-run Anadolu agency said on Monday he had confessed, but private broadcaster Haberturk contradicted this, saying he had told prosecutors he tried to prevent the attempted putsch.

The Turkish government says it was masterminded by Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric based in the US who has a wide following in Turkey.

He denies any involvement. Ankara has demanded Washington hand Gulen over.

Washington says it is prepared to extradite him but only if Turkey provides evidence linking him to crime. Mr Yildirim rejected that demand.

“We would be disappointed if our [American] friends told us to present proof even though members of the assassin organisation are trying to destroy an elected government under the directions of that person,” Mr Yildirim said.

“At this stage there could even be a questioning of our friendship,” Mr Yildirim added.

Mr Yildirim said 232 people were killed in Friday night’s violence: 208 of them were civilians, police and loyalist soldiers, and a further 24 were coup plotters.

Officials previously said the overall death toll was more than 290.

Death penalty

The news comes as German chancellor Angela Merkel reportedly told Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Turkey cannot join the EU if it reinstates the death penalty in a telephone call on Monday.

Turkey abolished capital punishment in 2004, allowing it to open EU accession talks the following year, but the negotiations have made scant progress since then.

With pro-government protesters demanding that the military coup leaders be executed, Mr Erdogan said on Sunday there could be no delay in using capital punishment and the government would discuss it with opposition parties.

Dr Merkel reportedly told Mr Erdogan on the phone that the EU and Germany vehemently oppose the reinstatement of the death penalty and that such a step is "in no way compatible" with Ankara's goal of EU membership.

“The chancellor also urged the president to abide by the principles of proportionality and rule of law in the Turkish state’s response [to the coup attempt],” a German spokeswoman said.

“The recent wave of arrests and dismissals in Turkey are a matter for grave concern.”

Dr Merkel's comments were echoed by German minister for foreign affairs Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who told reporters in Brussels that Germany expected Turkey to deal with those responsible for the attempted coup in line with the rule of law.

“Reintroduction of the death penalty would prevent successful negotiations to join the EU,” Mr Steinmeier said.

Dr Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert also told a news conference earlier on Monday that Germany and the EU categorically reject the death penalty.

"A country that has the death penalty can't be a member of the European Union and the introduction of the death penalty in Turkey would therefore mean the end of accession negotiations," Mr Seibert said.

Even before the coup attempt, many EU states were not eager to see such a large, mostly Muslim country as a member, and were concerned that Ankara’s record on basic freedoms had gone into reverse in recent years.

Reuters