Erdogan’s bid for control opposed
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan intends to take control of Turkey’s armed forces and the national intelligence agency as he seeks to cement his power after the failed coup two weeks ago.
The move would require a constitutional change, a Turkish official told the media after the country’s supreme military council met yesterday. It was expected to approve an overhaul of the armed forces.
A reform of the constitution would require approval by opposition parties, which vehemently object to extending the president’s powers. Opposition MPS and independent media have accused Erdogan of having autocratic tendencies.
The announcement comes as the authorities attempt to stamp out dissent. Nearly 16,000 people have been detained, including 10,000 members of the military. Tens of thousands of public sector workers under investigation for their role in the coup attempt have been banned from leaving the country.
On Thursday 45 newspapers and dozens of other media outlets were closed.
The government has special plans for the coup plotters who were killed during the attempted army takeover. Land next to a shelter for stray dogs in eastern Istanbul has been set aside to serve as a ‘‘traitors’ cemetery’’. A number of graves have been prepared after the authorities declared that slain rebels did not deserve a formal burial.
The makeshift cemetery, hidden in a corner of a building site, could cater for all 24 plotters believed to have been killed.
Kadir Topbas, mayor of Istanbul, promised to reserve a spot and call it a traitors’ cemetery shortly before it was constructed. ‘‘May every passer-by curse them and let them not rest in their tombs,’’ he told a Turkish news agency.
‘‘May every passer-by curse them and let them not rest in their tombs.’’ Kadir Topbas, mayor of Istanbul
Turkey’s directorate of religious affairs had already barred those who died trying to overthrow the government from having funeral prayers and services. Such prayers were intended for the faithful as an act of exoneration, it said.
‘‘These people have disregarded not only individuals but also the law of an entire nation and therefore do not deserve exoneration from the faithful,’’ it added.
So far only one body has been buried in the unmarked holes, cut into the rocky soil with heavy machinery, workers at the site said.
No ceremony was held for the body, which was taken to the site in an ambulance on Tuesday.
Local media named the dead man as Mehmet Karabekir, 34, a captain and father of two. They said that his mother had refused to claim his body.
Three open further corpses. graves await