ANKARA (Web Desk) – Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has strongly accused the west of supporting terrorism and coup plotters, expressing his resentment at the unsatisfying support from Turkey’s allies in the aftermath of the failed July 15 coup attempt.
“Now I ask: Does the West give support to terror or not? Is the West on the side of democracy or on the side of coups and terror? Unfortunately, the West gives support to terror and stands on the side of coups,” Erdoğan said in an address to international investors.
Ever since the failed putsch of 15 July, Erdoğan has repeatedly accused western powers that criticise his crackdown of worrying more about the fate of coup plotters than threats to democracy in an NATO ally.
Western powers in turn have warned Erdoğan that he should not be using undemocratic methods to counter a threat to democracy, raising particular concerns about the suggestion Ankara could re-introduce the death penalty.
Nearly 100 people, including several referees, have been fired by the Turkish football federation, two days after it announced all its committee members had resigned to “assist investigations” into the group accused of planning the coup.
The sackings will not cause disruption to the country’s passionate football fans, the private Doğan news agency said, as only one of those sacked was from the top Super League. But the targeting of sports officials is likely to deepen concern among Erdoğan’s critics that the coup has sparked a disturbingly broad purge.
So far, 70,000 people have been suspended from work and more than 18,000 detained, across sectors from the media and publishing to education and the military.
