President Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday pledged the “cleansing” of state institutions will continue, as around 6,000 people were arrested, and the military announced the formal end of the failed coup plot, which left 290 dead.
“They have nowhere to flee,” Erdogan said in a fiery speech delivered at a funeral ceremony of several people killed during Friday night’s coup attempt by a group within the armed forces.
He said a “cancer” had spread but vowed no let-up in the counterstrike.
Erdogan blames Fethullah Gulen, a US-based Turkish-born preacher and one-time ally turned rival accused of running a “parallel state”.
The coup left 290 people dead, including more than 100 alleged mutineers, Turkey’s foreign ministry said yesterday. More than 1,100 injured.
Erdogan is demanding Washington extradite Gulen.
US Secretary of State John Kerry told US broadcaster ABC he expects to hear from Turkey’s justice minister soon on a formal request and would consider an extradition application if it meets the appropriate legal standards.
Fresh arrests continued to be announced throughout the day and there was a stand-off, with warning shots fired, at an airport in Istanbul, which ended with 11 alleged pro-coup soldiers surrendering.
Photos emerged of jailed alleged coup leaders and soldiers involved in the takeover of bridges and an airport, and attacks on key buildings.
Akin Ozturk, a former commander of Turkey’s air force, was among those pictured in detention, with his ear bandaged. One official described him as a “mastermind” of the coup plot.
The justice minister said about 6,000 people were arrested.
Among them were nearly 3,000 soldiers, officials said, including at least 29 generals and dozens of colonels and other high ranking officers.
The heads of two of the four land forces are in detention.
Arrest warrants were issued for 250 judges and prosecutors and 2,745 judges were dismissed from their posts.
An arrest warrant was also issued for a top military aide to Erdogan.
Incirlik airbase, used for the US-led coalition bombing campaign against Islamic State extremists in Syria and Iraq, was again opened for operations after being shut for a day after the coup attempt.
Six F-16 aircraft were hijacked by the plotters during the coup attempt and used to attack key buildings, including parliament, which suffered serious damage to the facade, according to government officials.
General Bekir Ercan Van, the commander of the airbase in southern Turkey, along with 10 of his soldiers, was also arrested.