Now Erdogan ‘wants to smash secret NATO army’ over alleged role in Turkey coup
PRESIDENT Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants to destroy a secret NATO army over its alleged role in the failed military coup.
AFP GETTY — PRESIDENT Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants to destroy a secret NATO army
Mr Gulen denies the charge and has condemned the coup.
Turkish journalist Ozcan Tikit wrote in Turkish newspaper Habertürk: “If one wants to again create relationship of trust with the Western institutions, Gladio in Turkey must be eliminated as it already was in several Western countries.”
The claim comes just days after President Erdogan fuelled speculation that the United States was involved in the coup.
He told Turkish media that Gulen was a pawn backed by a “mastermind”.
AFP GETTY — President Erdogan’s government has rounded up 60,000 people in the wake of the failed coup
GETTY — Operation Gladio was the codename for a clandestine NATO operation in Italy during the Cold War
Turkey is currently under a state of emergency.
GETTY — Fethullah Gulen has denied any involvement in the coup
AFP At least 294 people were killed in the July coup
Turkish politicians have been frustrated by US and European criticism of the purge that has followed the coup, accusing the West of greater concern about the rights of the plotters than the gravity of the threat to a NATO member state.
Turkish Military Coup: 294 dead
THE violent military coup to overthrow Turkey’s President Erdogan has ‘failed’ leaving at least 104 dead and more than 1,500 wounded – but reports suggest fighting is still ongoing
In the next 40 hours Turkey complete an overhaul of its intelligence agency and make new appointments to its gendarmerie as it tries to rid its security apparatus of reported followers of Mr Gulen.