Turkish envoy: The coup was a suicide campaign

Turkey has made it clear that no diplomat working in Turkish missions in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has been arrested for any link to the the coup attempt.

Addressing the Saudi media at a press conference held here this week, Turkey’s Permanent Representative to OIC Salih Mutlu Sen welcomed the GCC’s support to the Turkish government during coup attempt and said Ankara has full support of the Kingdom, as also that of other GCC and Arab countries in this hour of crisis.
The Turkish envoy however confirmed that the Turkish military attaché to Kuwait has been arrested by Saudi authorities, but there is no further information about this issue.
Sen explained the reasons for arresting a large number of government and military officials as a result of the coup attempt.
“Turkey has its laws based on democracy and the Turkish Parliament has full authority to deal with such officials who were involved in the failed military coup,” he said.
Giving updates on the developments in Turkey, he said the “Turkish authorities have arrested a large number of officials, who were influenced by Fethullah Gülen,” the man said to be behind the coup and who is currently in the US.
“Unfortunately, his toxic influence has infiltrated deep inside government institutions,” he said.
Sen said: “The Turkish government has now full control of the government machinery; normal life has returned and preliminary investigations have proved that the coup attempt was more than a treacherous plot.”
It was, he said, a “terrorist campaign,” because elements of the coup attempt have opened fire on the Turkish people and their leaders were stabbed in the back.”
“The vast majority of the Turkish people stood beside the government and the armed forces against the coup attempt,” he said.
Sen said: “The participants in the coup attempt were simply members of the air force, gendarmerie and others military units. But the security agencies took the necessary measures to foil this attempt. The Turkish people also showed strong solidarity with the government.”
“The ‘terrorists’ tried to broadcast their message on the state’s TV channel, but the Turkish media also played a vital role to defeat the coup attempt,” he said.
Sen confirmed the Turkish government detained 7,543 people involved in this attempt.
More than 24 coup plotters were killed, 50 military officers and soldiers were arrested after they were injured, as well as 100 police, 6,038 soldiers, 755 judges and prosecutors, and 650 civilians were also arrested.

Source: Arab News