Erdogan rips American reaction to failed coup
take its course.
“Instead of thanking this nation that quashed the coup in the name of democracy, on the contrary, you are taking sides with the coup plotters,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in an angry speech Friday at a police special forces headquarters in Ankara. The facility was bombed and fired upon during the attempted coup, and 47 police officers were killed.
“The putschist is already in your country,” Erdogan said.
The president also lashed out at an American military official who expressed concern that the failed coup may have longer-term effects on the U.S.-led fight against Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq.
Gen. Joseph Votel said Thursday the unrest could affect U.S. relations with the Turkish military, noting that some of its leaders have been jailed.
“We’ve certainly had relationships with a lot of Turkish leaders, military leaders in particular. And so I’m concerned about what the impact is on those relationships as we continue to move forward,” Votel said at the Aspen Security Forum. Erdogan criticized the comment. “It’s not up to you to make that decision. Who are you? Know your place,” he said, and hinted the United States could be behind the failed plot.
“My people know who is behind this scheme … they know who the superior intelligence behind it is, and with these statements you are revealing yourselves, you are giving yourselves away,” he said.
Speaking later in the evening at an event in Ankara to commemorate the dead and wounded, Erdogan said nobody from the European Union or the Council of Europe had visited Turkey to express their condolences for those killed in the coup.
He noted the West simply offered condolences and then followed up with messages of concern about those suspended or fired.
“You simply send a message of condolence, and you follow it up with nine kinds of advice?” Erdogan said. “Keep that to yourself.”
The president insisted a broad crackdown on the Gulen movement was necessary and would continue.