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                    Turkey Intensifies Failed Coup Crackdown

   by VOA News

   Turkey intensified its crackdown Sunday on officials who allegedly
   played a role in the failed coup in mid-July, dismissing nearly 1,400
   military personnel.

   Among those discharged was a top aide to President Recep Tayyip
   Erdogan, who also moved to tighten his grip over the top ranks of the
   country's armed forces and spy agency.

   Erdogan aide-de-camp Ali Yazici was among those arrested five days
   after the July 15 uprising in an attempt to overthrow Erdogan's Ankara
   government.

   More than 50,000 Turks have now lost their jobs across the country and
   more than 18,000 have been detained, all for their alleged connection
   or support of Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric who has lived in the
   United States for 17 years that Erdogan has blamed for the coup
   attempt. Gulen is an Erdogan opponent, but has denied any connection to
   the upheaval.

   Turkey has demanded that the U.S. extradite the 75-year-old Gulen, who
   lives in a mountain compound in the eastern U.S. state of Pennsylvania.
   Ankara sent American officials dossiers on Gulen's purported
   involvement on the coup, but the U.S. has given no indication it will
   act soon on the extradition request.

   Meanwhile, pro-Erdogan supporters are set to rally in Cologne, Germany
   on Sunday. Germany is home to about three million people with Turkish
   roots.

   Turkey's sports minister is expected to attend the demonstration, but
   German officials banned video messages from Turkey's leaders from
   outside Germany.

   Clashes during the short-lived coup bid killed more than 235 people and
   wounded nearly 10 times that many, but the major impact of the attempt
   to remove Erdogan has been the wave of detentions, firings and
   suspensions
   [1]FILE - Turkish soldiers detain Staff Sergeant Erkan Cikat, suspected
   of being involved in the recent coup attempt, in Marmaris, Turkey, July
   25, 2016.
   FILE - Turkish soldiers detain Staff Sergeant Erkan Cikat, suspected of
   being involved in the recent coup attempt, in Marmaris, Turkey, July
   25, 2016.

   Turkey's Western allies condemned the coup as soon as it occurred, and
   have restated their support for Erdogan repeatedly since then. However,
   as the purges expanded, the allies also have become concerned about the
   scale of the crackdown.

   Erdogan has responded sharply to any perceived criticism from abroad
   this month. Speaking from his presidential palace Friday evening, he
   accused the West of deserting Turkey in its hour of need: "Some people
   give us advice; they say they are worried. Mind your own business! Look
   at your own deeds!"

   Erdogan indicated some of his future plans in a wide-ranging interview
   Saturday with the private Turkish news channel [2]A-Haber. He announced
   parliament would soon receive "a small constitutional package" that
   would bring the country's National Intelligence Organization and the
   chief of staff of the armed forces under the president's direct
   control.
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   [3]http://www.voanews.com/content/turkey-intensifies-coup-crackdown/344
   2927.html

References

   1. http://gdb.voanews.com/791FABA0-7E06-42CF-A9DC-057F35C06A12_mw1024_s_n.jpg
   2. http://www.ahaber.com.tr/
   3. http://www.voanews.com/content/turkey-intensifies-coup-crackdown/3442927.html