Police and officials purged In Turkey After Coup Bid

 

Turkish officials say that nearly 8,000 police officers have been suspended on suspicion of having links to the coup attempt at the weekend.

Some 6,000 members of the judiciary and military, including generals, have been detained.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to purge state bodies of the "virus" that had caused the revolt.
The US Secretary of State, John Kerry, has stressed the importance of democratic rule.
Speaking in Brussels where he has been meeting European foreign ministers, Mr Kerry said the US stood squarely on the side of the elected leadership in Turkey: "We will certainly support bringing perpetrators of the coup to justice - but we also caution against a reach that goes well beyond that."

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said that 208 "martyrs" had lost their lives during the failed coup attempt, including 60 police, three soldiers and 145 civilians. Another 1,491 were injured, he said.
Twenty-four alleged coup plotters were killed, Mr Yildirim said - a smaller number than Turkish officials previously reported.

 

The Turkish government accuses cleric Fethullah Gulen of being behind the plot.
Mr Gulen lives in the US and strongly denies any involvement.

Eight Turkish military officers who fled to Greece by helicopter appeared in court in the Greek border city of Alexandropouli charged with entering the country illegally. Proceedings were adjourned until Thursday.
Turkey has requested their extradition; they have applied for asylum in Greece.

 

 

 

President Erdogan told a crowd on Sunday that Turkey would consider reinstating the death penalty.
Capital punishment was abolished in 2004 as part of Turkey's bid to join the EU. Nobody has been executed in the country since 1984.
A spokesman for the German government said that the re-introduction of the death penalty would mean the end to Turkey's EU accession negotiations