July 31, 2016, Washington D.C. — On July 15, 2016 Turkey experienced a coup attempt that killed over 160 civilians, 104 coup soldiers and wounded over 1500 people. Reactions of the failed coup have gained massive responses and reactions both domestically and internationally, with condemnations from the international community, including the United States, the European Union and NATO on the crackdown in Turkey.
The Alliance of Shared Values (ASFV) released a statement briefing on the developments in Turkey and condemning the attempt. Fethullah Gulen also released a statement on the Alliance of Shared Values (AFSV) website following Turkey’s decision to extradite him back to Turkey and also urged the US government to “reject any effort to abuse the extradition process to carry out political vendettas”. The New York Times published an Op-Ed on July 23rd condemning “all Threats to Turkey’s Democracy. He later appeared on an interview with CNN, strongly condemning the coup attempts.
On July 20th, the Turkish government declared a 3-month state of emergency, which resulting to a wide purge of police, state employees, judges, academics and civil servants. Today, over 60,000 people have been either detained, suspended or sacked since the purge began. Around 50,000 passports of Turkish citizens have been revoked by the government of Turkey.
Reports concerning the events surrounding the failed coup attempt continue to emerge, including the crackdown by the Turkish government, the U.S. and the global community continues to monitor the developments in Turkey very closely.
Other suggested readings include:
Fethullah Gulen: I Condemn All Threats to Turkey’s Democracy – New York Times
Turkey’s Erdogan mounts his own political coup – Washington Post
Turkey: Media purge threatens freedom of expression – Amnesty International
Fethullah Gulen on ‘GPS’ – Interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria
The Scale of Turkey’s Purge Is Nearly Unprecedented – New York Times
