The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Recep Erdogan

  • Buhari congratulates Turkish President on re-election

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday evening spoke with his Turkish counterpart, Mr. Recep Erdogan, and congratulated him on his re-election.

    The President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, disclosed this in a statement in Abuja.

    The statement said Buhari in a telephone conversation with Erdogan said he looked forward to strengthening of relations between Nigeria and Turkey.

    President Buhari expressed the hope that the results of the recently held elections would strengthen democracy and lead Turkey towards more economic prosperity.

    He also welcomed his invitation to the July 9 inauguration but regretted his inability to be personally present at the event.

    He told the Turkish President that the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mohammed Bello, would represent him at the inauguration.

    President Erdogan emerged winner of the June 25 Turkish presidential election with 52.5 per cent of the total votes cast during the exercise.

    Erdogan’s closest challenger, Muharrem Ince, who got 31 per cent, had since conceded defeat.

    NAN

  • Turkey docks 143 soldiers in failed coup

    Turkey docks 143 soldiers in failed coup

    One hundred and forty three former Turkish soldiers went on trial on Monday in Istanbul over their deadly clashes with civilians on a bridge on the night of a coup attempt in 2016, local media reported.

    Thirty-four people were killed on the bridge over the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul as clashes erupted between civilians and soldiers trying to seal off the bridge at the start of a coup bid by some in the military on July 15, 2016.

    A close friend of Turkish President Recep Erdogan was among the dead and 318 others were injured in the clashes on the Bosphorus Bridge, which was later renamed July 15 Martyrs Bridge by the government to honour the dead civilians, who resisted the plot.

    If convicted, the dismissed soldiers each will face aggravated life imprisonment over “murder and attempting to overthrow the parliament and government,” press reports said.

    Turkey believes that the coup attempt, in which 250 people were killed across the country, was orchestrated by the U.S.-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen and his followers in the military.

    Turkey has been pushing for Gulen’s extradition, while a continuing crackdown has put more than 50,000 in prison and 150,000 others dismissed from their posts.

    NAN

  • Russia offers Turkey closer ties

    Russia is ready to restore economic co-operation and other ties with Turkey, President Vladimir Putin has told his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in St Petersburg.

    It is Mr. Erdogan’s first foreign visit since an attempted coup last month, the BBC reports.

    Mr. Erdogan thanked Mr. Putin, saying “your call straight after the coup attempt was very welcome.”

    Russian-Turkish relations soured last November when Turkey shot down a Russian bomber on the Syrian border.

    The visit comes as Turkey’s ties with the West have cooled over criticism of Mr. Erdogan’s purge of alleged coup-plotters.

    Before leaving Turkey, Mr. Erdogan referred to President Putin as his “friend” and said he wanted to open a new page in relations with Russia.

    “This visit strikes me as a new milestone in our bilateral relations, starting again from a clean slate,” Mr. Erdogan told Russia’s Tass news agency.

    Mr. Putin said their talks would cover “the whole range of our relations, including restoring economic ties, combating terrorism.”

    After Turkey shot down the Su-24 jet, Russia imposed trade sanctions and suspended Russian package tours to Turkey.

     

  • Erdogan blasts U.S general for being ‘on plotters’ side’

    Turkey’s president has blasted remarks by top United States general, Joseph Votel, in the wake of the failed coup, accusing him of being “on the side of the plotters.”

    Gen. Votel, head of U.S Central Command, said jailing some military leaders could damage Turkish-American military co-operation, the BBC reports.

    President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Gen. Votel should thank Turkey for securing democracy.

    The interior minister said on Friday 18,000 people had so far been detained.

    Gen. Votel had said on Thursday: “We have certainly had relationships with a lot of Turkish leaders – military leaders in particular. I am concerned about what the impact is on those relationships as we continue.”

    President Erdogan said on Friday: “It’s not up to you to make that decision. Who are you? Know your place! You are taking the side of coup plotters instead of thanking this state for defeating the coup attempt.”

    He added: “They [the critics] say, ‘We worry for [Turkey’s] future’. But what are these gentlemen worried about? Whether the numbers of detained and arrested will increase? If they are guilty, they will increase.”

    Mr. Erdogan also said: “My people know who is behind this scheme; they know who the superior intelligence behind it is, and with these statements you are revealing yourselves, you are giving yourselves away.”

    Replying on Friday after President Erdogan’s comments, Gen. Votel said any reports that he was involved in the coup were “unfortunate and completely inaccurate.”

     

  • 6, 000 arrested in Turkey over coup plot

    Turkey has arrested 6,000 people after a failed coup, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowing to purge state bodies of the “virus” that caused the revolt.

    Mr. Erdogan’s top military aide, Col. Ali Yazici is among those now in custody.

    The overall death toll for the weekend violence has risen to 290, the foreign ministry said.

    More than 100 of those were participating in the coup.

    Security forces are reported to have met resistance from some coup plotters who were being arrested.

    Warning shots were fired at Istanbul’s second largest airport, and also at a military base in central Konya province, unnamed officials said.

    “We will continue to cleanse the virus from all state institutions, because this virus has spread. Unfortunately like a cancer, this virus has enveloped the state,” the BBC quoted Mr. Erdogan as saying to mourners at a funeral in Istanbul for victims of the coup.

    Mr. Erdogan broke down in tears while speaking at the funeral of a close political ally, his campaign manager Erol Olcak, and his teenage son.

    The President said he would take the country forward in “unity and solidarity.”

  • Istanbul airport attack death toll climbs to 42

    Istanbul airport attack death toll climbs to 42

    …Police raid suspected Islamic State cells

    A report on Thursday from Istanbul said that the death toll from the terrorist attack at Ataturk Airport, has rising to 42 after a young woman died in hospital.

    More than 230 people were injured in Wednesday’s attack, which Turkish officials and others said was likely carried out by the Islamic State terrorist group.

    Meanwhile, another report said that Turkish police has carried out raids against suspected Islamic State cells in Istanbul and the Aegean coastal city of Izmir.

    It said that the counter-terrorism police teams led by Special Forces officers carried out raids in three working-class neighbourhoods of Istanbul, Pendik, Basaksehir and Sultanbeyli.

    It noted that nine suspected militants, thought to have been in contact with Islamic State members in Syria, have been detained in raids.

    It said they were accused of financing, recruiting and providing logistical support to the Sunni hardline group.

    Meanwhile, Turkish President, Recep Erdogan, has vowed to fight against all terrorist organisations at all costs until the end of terrorism.

    “We expect that a resolute stance against terrorist organisations should be adopted by the world and especially Western countries with their parliament, media and non-governmental organisations.

    The country marked a national day of mourning on Wednesday, with flags at domestic and overseas buildings flown at half-mast.

  • Turkish PM to quit amid rift reports

    Turkey’s Prime Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, said he will stand down at an extraordinary congress of his ruling AK Party later this month.

    Mr. Davutoglu is believed to have fallen from favour having disapproved of Mr. Erdogan’s plans to move Turkey to a presidential system of government, the BBC reports.

    But in a speech, Mr. Davutoglu pledged his loyalty to President Erdogan, saying he bore no anger to anyone.

    His successor will be chosen when the congress meets on May 22.

    Earlier on Thursday, presidential aide, Cemil Ertem, said there would be no snap elections following the appointment of a new leader.

  • Hundreds of Turkish police officers ‘sacked’

    Hundreds of Turkish police officers ‘sacked’

    Turkey has sacked 350 police officers in the capital Ankara, following a corruption probe targeting people close to the government, reports say.

    Officials, mostly from outside the city, have been named to replace them.

    BBC reports that hundreds of police have been dismissed or reassigned across the country since last month’s corruption investigation.

    Three cabinet ministers resigned after their sons were detained in the raids.

    The prime minister has accused the police and judiciary of a “dirty plot.”

    The arrests were carried out as part of an inquiry into alleged bribery involving public tenders.

    Those detained in the December 17 raids included public officials and businessmen close to the prime minister.

    The latest round of police sackings and reassignments were carried out under a government decree published at midnight.

    Those removed from their posts include chiefs of the financial crimes, anti-smuggling and organised crime units, the private Dogan News Agency reported.

    The move comes as the government is trying to contain the fall-out from the corruption inquiry.

    Many believe the arrests and firings reflect a feud within Turkey’s ruling AK Party between those who back Mr. Recep Erdogan, and supporters of Fethullah Gulen, an influential Islamic scholar living in self-imposed exile in the United States.

    Members of Mr. Gulen’s Hizmet movement are said to hold influential positions in institutions such as the police, the judiciary and the AK Party itself.

    Mr. Erdogan has said he would not allow “political plotting.”