Some 7,500 people have been arrested and another 9,000 fired after failed putch; US and EU urge Ankara to respect rule of law
An
armed Turkish police officer stands guard during a funeral ceremony for
victims of the failed July 15 coup attempt at Kocatepe Mosque in Ankara
on July 17, 2016. (ILYAS AKENGIN / AFP)
The United States and European
Union on Monday sternly warned Turkey to respect the rule of law after
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government launched a massive crackdown
following the failed coup, arresting over 7,500 people and sacking more
than 9,000.
Germany
and the EU also said any move by Turkey to reinstate the death penalty
for the coup plotters would derail Ankara’s long-stalled membership bid.
US Secretary of State John Kerry and EU
foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said in Brussels that Friday’s
attempted putsch was “no excuse” for excessive action.
“We will certainly support bringing the
perpetrators of the coup to justice but we also caution against a reach
that goes well beyond that,” Kerry told a press conference with
Mogherini.
The EU and US “urge the government of Turkey
to uphold the highest standards of respect for the nation’s democratic
institutions and the rule of law,” he added.
Mogherini said as EU foreign ministers met
that the “rule of law has to be protected in the country, there is no
excuse for any steps that take the country away from that”, adding that
it was “for the sake of the country.”
The EU commissioner dealing with Turkey’s
long-stalled bid for membership of the bloc said it appeared that the
government had already prepared a list before the coup of people to be
rounded up.
“I mean, (that) the lists are available
already after the event indicates that this was prepared and at a
certain moment should be used,” enlargement commissioner Johannes Hahn
told reporters.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman
denounced “revolting scenes of caprice and revenge against soldiers on
the streets” after disturbing pictures emerged of the treatment of some
detained suspects.
After Erdogan said Sunday that Turkey would
consider a return of capital punishment, spokesman Steffen Seibert said
such a move “would mean the end of EU membership talks.”
Mogherini was quick to echo the German position.
“Let me be very clear… no country can become an EU state if it introduces the death penalty,” she said.
Turkey has called on Washington to hand over
exiled Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, Erdogan’s chief foe, over the
failed coup, but Kerry said Ankara must produce proof.
He said he had told Turkey’s foreign minister
“to make certain that in whatever portfolio and request they send us,
they send us evidence, not allegations.”
Turkey’s attempts to join the 28-nation
European Union have been hobbled in recent years by concern over the
increasingly authoritarian Erdogan’s record on human rights and press
freedom.
But the EU agreed to speed up its membership
bid and give visa-free travel to Turks as part of a migrant crisis deal
in which Ankara agreed to take back people landing in the Greek islands.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said that “the rule of law must prevail.”
“France has condemned the coup, you can’t
accept the military taking power,” he said. “At the same time we have to
be vigilant that the Turkish authorities don’t put in place a system
which turns back democracy.”
Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders also
urged restraint, saying: “It’s normal to punish those involved in the
coup, but it’s (also) normal to ask for respect for the rule of law.”
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