The secret ‘plotters’ accused of trying to spark an uprising
the secular ideals of Ataturk — or wanted to portray themselves as such. The “Yurtta Sulh Konseyi”, the Peace Council’s Turkish name, appears derived from a famous Ataturk quote, “yurtta sulh, cihanda sulh” (“peace at home, peace in the world”).
Yesterday, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency published a video of a WhatsApp group conversation titled Yurtta Sulh, claiming that it belonged to the plotters. Spanning two minutes — from 8:19 to 8:21pm — the group appears to discuss the early stages of the operation, sending updates such as “the airport unit is on the way” or “police in charge of the first bridge obeying the orders”. was not able to verify this video.
It was unclear how much support the group had; more than 1,500 have been arrested. Elements within the air force and the gendarmerie general command appeared to be involved, Mr Erdogan said. Former air force commander President Erdogan accused Fethullah Gulen, an exiled Muslim cleric and his old ally, of organising the attempted coup from his headquarters in Pennsylvania, Akin Ozturk and army generals Adem Huduti and Avni Angun, were named among those detained. The four-star general retired in August last year, but continued working as a member of the Supreme Military Council.
Television footage showed a colonel and other soldiers being taken into custody at military headquarters. It showed them being searched by special forces police. Eight soldiers – including two majors and a captain – requested asylum in Greece after arriving in a Blackhawk helicopter in Alexandroupolis.
That they could have teamed up with an Islamist cleric appears at first unlikely, but Robert Amsterdam, a lawyer who represents the Turkish government, said the country’s intelligence services had told him that Mr Gulen was directly involved.
“The fact that now there are signs that Gulen is working closely with certain members of military leadership against the elected civilian government is a very alarming sign – and the people of Turkey, as demonstrated by the massive outpouring of anti-military protesters tonight – will not stand for any more of this repeating history,” he said.
Mr Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile in the United States, was once an ally of the Turkish president, using his religious network to put placemen throughout the police and judiciary, easing out secularists and helping his friend consolidate power.
But the two became arch-rivals after the president and his ruling AKP blamed Mr Gulen for choreographing damaging corruption allegations that targeted senior ministers as well as Mr Erdogan’s son, Bilal, in 2013.
Purges followed and Mr Erdogan has frequently accused his former ally of trying to seize power from his American home, by using his secretive “Hizmet” movement to infiltrate state institutions, including security forces, intelligence agencies and the judiciary.
On Friday night, visitors to his headquarters in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania described a deserted scene – not a hive of coup plotters.
He denied accusations he played a role in the attempted takeover and said he strongly condemned the actions.
“As someone who suffered under multiple military coups during the past five decades, it is especially insulting to be accused of having any link to such an attempt. I categorically deny such accusations,” he said in a statement.
The government insisted that despite Mr Gulen’s denial, the cleric’s movement was responsible for the coup attempt.
“The Gulen movement is desperate to distance itself now that their coup ended in tears,” a Turkish official said.
John Kerry, the US secretary of state, said the United States had not received any request to extradite Mr Gulen.
“We haven’t received any request with respect to Mr Gulen,” he said. “We invited the government of Turkey as we always do to present us with any legitimate evidence that withstands scrutiny and the United States will accept that and look at it and make judgments about it appropriately.”
Whoever was behind it, Mr Erdogan wasted no time in expunging any further threat – real or imagined – to his authority. As well as a roundup of military figures, 2,745 judges were dismissed across Turkey.