Erdogan slams West for lack of support

ANKARA (REUTERS)-President Tayyip Erdogan condemned Western countries for failing to show solidarity with Turkey over the recent failed coup, saying those who worried over the fate of coup supporters instead of Turkish democracy could not be friends of Ankara.

Erdogan also rejected Western criticism of purges under way in Turkey's military and other state institutions which saw more than 60,000 people detained, removed or suspended over suspected links with the coup attempt, suggesting some in the United States were on the side of the plotters.

“The attitude of many countries and their officials over the coup attempt in Turkey is shameful in the name of democracy,” Erdogan told hundreds of supporters at the presidential palace in the Turkish capital.

“Any country and any leader who does not worry about the life of Turkish people and our democracy as much as they worry about the fate of coupists are not our friends,” said Erdogan, who narrowly escaped capture and perhaps death on the night of the coup.

Turkey's Western allies have condemned the coup in which Erdogan said 237 people were killed and more than 2,100 were wounded, but have been rattled by the scale of the crackdown in the aftermath. Images of detained soldiers with bruises and bandages have worried civil rights groups over mistreatment.

The purges have targeted supporters of U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, accused by Ankara of masterminding the July 15-16 failed coup, but Erdogan's critics say he is using the measures to crack down on any dissent.

Erdogan also criticised the European Council and the European Union, which Turkey aspires to be a part of, for their failure to pay a visit to offer condolences, saying their criticism was 'shameful'.

The Director of U.S. National Intelligence, James Clapper, said on Thursday the purges were harming the fight against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq by sweeping away Turkish officers who had worked closely with the United States.

The head of U.S. Central Command, General Joseph Votel, said he believed some of the military figures whom the United States had worked with were in jail. Votel's comments drew condemnation from Erdogan.

“Instead of thanking this country which repelled a coup attempt, you take the side of the coup plotters. The putschist is in your country already,” Erdogan said, referring to Gulen, who denied any involvement in the coup attempt.

WASHINGTON, July 30 (AFP) - US Democrats said they had been targeted by yet another cyber attack, while Hillary Clinton's campaign confirmed that an analytics program it used was breached in an earlier intrusion.

A hack on Democratic National Committee servers resulted in last week's embarrassing leak of emails that revealed how party leaders sought to undermine Clinton's Democratic White House rival Bernie Sanders.

Clinton's campaign has blamed Russia for hacking the emails, which were made public by anti- secrecy website WikiLeaks.

The Kremlin dismissed the allegations as absurd, but President Barack Obama has refused to rule out the possibility that Russia is trying to sway the presidential election in favor of Republican Donald Trump.

Clinton's campaign said Friday the hack on the DNC had accessed an analytics data program that it used. The program was maintained by the DNC, it said.

"Our campaign computer system has been under review by outside cyber security experts," campaign spokesman Nick Merrill said in a statement.

"To date, they have found no evidence that our internal systems have been compromised."

Meanwhile, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) said Friday it was the target of a "cyber security incident."

"The investigation is ongoing. Based on the information we have to date, we've been advised by investigators that this is similar to other recent incidents, including the DNC breach," national press secretary Meredith Kelly said in a statement.

The DCCC was working to enhance its network security and "cooperating with the federal law enforcement with respect to their ongoing investigation," she said.