The Jim Bakker Show

Iraqi police remove suicide belt from 11-year-old

Iraqi security forces detain a boy after removing a suicide vest from him in Kirkuk

Iraqi police detained an 11-year-old boy near a Shi’ite mosque in Kirkuk city on Sunday (August 21) after removing a suicide vest from him.

Kurdish TV channel Kurdistan 24 showed footage of two policemen holding the shirtless boy, while a third officer stripped the explosive belt off his body.

Kiruk’s police chief Brigadier Khatab Omar said that the boy was carrying two kilograms of TNT explosive materials. He said the boy had entered the city five to six days ago.

The capture of the boy followed a deadly attack at a wedding party early on Sunday in the Turkish city of Gaziantep., which the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said was carried out by a child between the ages of 12 and 14.

Erdogan said Islamic State was the likely perpetrator of the attack.

Bomb attacks kill seven, wound 224 in southeast Turkey

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) – Two bomb attacks blamed on Kurdish militants killed seven members of the security forces and wounded 224 people in southeast Turkey on Thursday, officials and security sources said, in a renewed escalation of violence across the region.

A car bomb ripped through a police station in the city of Elazig at 9:20 a.m. (0620 GMT) as officers arrived for work. Three police officers were killed and 217 people were wounded, 85 of them police officers, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said.

Offices in the police station were left in ruins and filled with smoke after the bomb exploded in front of the complex, destroying part of the facade, CNN Turk footage showed.

Less than four hours later, a roadside bomb believed to have been planted by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants tore through a military vehicle in the Hizan district of Bitlis province, security sources said.

They said the blast killed three soldiers and a member of the state-sponsored village guard militia and wounded another seven soldiers.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombings, but Yildirim said there was no doubt they were carried out by the PKK, deemed a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

“The (PKK) terror group has lost its chain of command. Its elements inside (Turkey) are carrying out suicide attacks randomly wherever they get the opportunity,” Yildirim told reporters in Elazig.

“We have raised the state of alarm to a higher level,” he said at the scene of the attack, where a crowd chanted “Damn the PKK!”

The PKK has carried out dozens of attacks on police and military posts since 2015 in the largely Kurdish southeast in its fight for greater autonomy for Turkey’s 15 million Kurds.

Elazig, a conservative province that votes in large numbers for the ruling AK Party, had been spared violence until now.

Video footage showed a plume of black smoke rising above the city after the blast, which uprooted trees and gouged a large crater outside the police complex, which is situated on a busy thoroughfare in the city of 420,000 people.

In Van province, further east, two police officers and one civilian were killed and 73 people were wounded late on Wednesday when a car bomb exploded near a police station, the local governor’s office said in a statement.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack in Van, a largely Kurdish province on the Iranian border. The Van governor’s office said the PKK was responsible.

The southeast has been scorched by violence since a 2 1/2-year ceasefire with the PKK collapsed in July last year. Thousands of militants and hundreds of soldiers and police officers have been killed, according to official figures. Rights groups say about 400 civilians have also been killed.

On Thursday, PKK militants also attacked a police checkpoint in the southeastern town of Semdinli, near the Iraqi and Iranian borders, wounding two police officers, Dogan news agency said.

More than 40,000 people have been killed in violence since the PKK first took up arms in 1984.

(Reporting by Ayla Jean Yackley, Akin Aytekin and Tuvan Gumrukcu; Writing by Daren Butler and Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Larry King)

Turkey seizes assets as post-coup crackdown turns to business

By Ayla Jean Yackley

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish authorities ordered the detention of nearly 200 people, including leading businessmen, and seized their assets as an investigation into suspects in last month’s failed military rebellion shifted to the private sector.

President Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to choke off businesses linked to U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom he blames for the July 15 coup attempt, describing his schools, firms and charities as “nests of terrorism.”

Tens of thousands of troops, civil servants, judges and officials have been detained or dismissed in a massive purge that Western allies worry Erdogan is using to crack down on broader dissent, risking stability in the NATO partner.

In dawn raids on Thursday, police from a financial-crimes unit entered some 200 homes and workplaces after a chief prosecutor issued 187 arrest warrants, state-run Anadolu news agency said. TV channel CNN Turk said 60 people were detained.

Gulen, formerly close to Erdogan and living in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania, has denounced the attempted coup, when rogue troops commandeered tanks and jets to attack government installations. He has denied any responsibility.

Police in Istanbul and 17 other provinces were searching for supporters of Gulen’s movement, including prominent businessmen, suspected of belonging to and financing his organization, CNN Turk said. The Istanbul prosecutor demanded the assets of the 187 suspects be confiscated, Anadolu said.

Turkey classified Gulen’s movement, which espouses philanthropy, interfaith dialogue and science-based education, as a terrorist network in July 2015. It says Gulen’s followers spent four decades infiltrating the bureaucracy and security forces in a bid to eventually take control of the state.

FORTUNE 500

Among the businesses targeted were two Fortune 500 companies, CNN Turk said, naming clothing makers Aydinli Group and Eroglu Holding, which both run large retail chains.

No one answered calls to Aydinli, which had sales of 928 million lira ($317 million) in 2015, nor to Eroglu, which reported revenue of 490 million lira last year.

Eroglu said it had no links to any company providing finance to Gulen’s movement, according to the Hurriyet news website.

Nejat Gullu, chairman of baklava maker Gulluoglu, was detained, his company said in a statement on its website.

Gullu “would never stand with a terrorist organization or civic group that supports a terrorist organization,” it said and expressed confidence he would be cleared of any charges.

Earlier this week, police searched the offices of a nationwide retail chain and a healthcare and technology company, and detained key executives.

Turkey authorities said 4,262 companies and institutions with links to Gulen had been shut. In total, 40,029 people had been detained since the coup attempt, and about half had been formally arrested pending charges.

In purges of the military, police and civil service 79,900 people had been removed from public duty.

Turkey also wants other nations to crack down on Gulen-affiliated organisations, including schools and businesses.

European Affairs Minister Omer Celik called on Germany to shut businesses that have links to Gulen and are operating there, according to Wirtschaftswoche magazine.

The EU and the United States have expressed concern about the scale of the crackdown, and human rights groups have said a lack of due process will ensnare innocent people who had no role in the abortive coup.

But officials say they have to act fast to prevent further attempts by Gulen’s “parallel state” to destabilize the government from within the bureaucracy and business community.

It has demanded Washington extradite Gulen so he can face charges in Turkey, drawing a cautious reaction from U.S. officials who say they need to see clear evidence linking Gulen to the military putsch.

A faction of the military attempted to seize power on July 15, killing some 240 people, mostly civilians, and wounding 2,000. About 100 people backing the coup were also killed, according to official estimates.

Authorities are still searching for 137 fugitives, including nine generals and admirals, Defence Minister Fikri Isik told Anadolu. He also said the government is considering an extraordinary meeting of the Supreme Military Council this month as it plans an overhaul of the military to expand civilian control over Turkey’s armed forces, which have toppled three governments since 1960.

(Additional reporting by Daren Butler; Writing by Ayla Jean Yackley; Editing by Patrick Markey and Anna Willard)

Making space for coup purge, Turkey starts to release 38,000 prisoners

By Daren Butler

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey began freeing 38,000 prisoners on Wednesday, after announcing a penal reform that will make space for tens of thousands of suspects rounded up over last month’s attempted coup.

The reform was one of a series of measures outlined on Wednesday in two decrees under a state of emergency declared after the July 15 failed putsch during which 240 people were killed.

The government gave no reason for measure, but its prisons were already straining capacity before the mass arrests that followed the coup.

Western allies worry President Tayyip Erdogan, already accused by opponents of creeping authoritarianism, is using the crackdown to target dissent, testing relations with a key NATO partner in the war on Islamic State.

Angrily dismissing those concerns, Turkish officials say they are rooting out a serious internal threat from followers of a U.S.-based cleric.

Wednesday’s decrees, published in the Official Gazette, also ordered the dismissal of 2,360 more police officers, more than 100 military personnel and 196 staff at Turkey’s information and communication technology authority, BTK.

Those dismissed were described as having links to cleric Fethullah Gulen, a former ally of Erdogan turned enemy. Erdogan says Gulen was behind the attempt by rogue troops using tanks and jets to overthrow the government. Gulen denies involvement.

Under the penal reform, convicts with up to two years left in sentences are eligible for release on probation, extending the period from one year. The “supervised release” excludes those convicted of terrorism, murder, violent or sexual crimes.

“I’m really happy to be released from jail. I wasn’t expecting anything like this,” prisoner Turgay Aydin was quoted by Andolu news agency telling reporters outside Turkey’s largest prison Silivri, west of Istanbul. “I thank President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. I’ve come to my senses. After this I will try to be a better, cleaner person.”

In an interview with A Haber television, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said 38,000 people would initially be released, but as many as 93,000 could benefit from the program.

To be eligible for the scheme, prisoners must have served half of their sentences. Previously they were required to have already served two thirds of their sentences.

According to justice ministry data obtained by Anadolu agency, there were 213,499 prisoners in jail as of Aug. 16, more than 26,000 above prison capacity.

Another measure in the decrees gave the president more choice in appointing the head of the armed forces. He can now select any general as military chief. Previously only the heads of the army, navy or air force could be promoted to the post.

A telecoms authority will also be closed under the moves.

Erdogan says Gulen and his followers infiltrated government institutions to create a ‘parallel state’ in an attempt to take over the country.

Alongside tens of thousands of civil servants suspended or dismissed, more than 35,000 people have been detained in the purge. Judges, journalists, police, and teachers are among those targeted for suspected links to Gulen’s movement.

Turkish police on Tuesday searched the offices of a nationwide retail chain and a healthcare and technology company, detaining executives who authorities accuse of helping finance Gulen’s network.

FIRST ‘COUP’ INDICTMENT

A prosecutor in the western province of Usak has submitted the first indictment formally accusing Gulen of masterminding the coup plot, the state-run Anadolu Agency said.

An 11-month investigation focused on alleged wrongdoing by the Gulen movement from 2013, and now includes charges Gulen organized an armed terrorist group to topple the government, scrap the constitution and murder Erdogan on July 15.

The 2,257-page indictment seeks two life sentences and an additional 1,900 years in jail for Gulen, plus tens of millions of lira in fines, Anadolu said. It names 111 defendants, including 13 people who are already in custody.

U.S. officials have been cautious on the extradition of Gulen, saying they need clear evidence. He has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999.

Western criticism of the purge and Ankara’s demands that the United States send Gulen home have already frayed ties with Washington and the European Union, increasing tensions over an EU deal with Turkey to stem the flow of migrants.

In another tense exchange, Turkey lashed out at Germany on Wednesday, saying allegations in a media report that Turkey had become a hub for Islamist groups reflected a “twisted mentality” that tried to target Erdogan.

Incensed over a perceived lack of Western sympathy over the coup attempt, Erdogan has revived relations with Russia, a detente Western officials worry may be used by both leaders to pressure the European Union and NATO.

Measures in Wednesday’s decrees will also enable former air force pilots to return to duty, making up for a deficit after the dismissal of military pilots in the purge.

Turkey declared a three-month state of emergency on July 21, and decrees since then have dismissed thousands of security force members and shut thousands of private schools, charities and other institutions suspected of links to Gulen.

(Additional reporting by Ayla Jean Yackley; Editing by Patrick Markey, Anna Willard and Peter Graff)

Turkish police raid 44 firms in coup probe, to detain executives

The business and financial district of Levent, comprised of leading Turkish companies' headquarters and popular shopping malls, is seen from the Sapphire Tower in Istanbul, Turkey,

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish police launched simultaneous raids on 44 companies in Istanbul on Tuesday and had warrants to detain 120 company executives as part of the investigation into last month’s attempted military coup, state-run Anadolu agency reported.

It said the companies were accused of giving financial support to the movement of U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is accused of orchestrating the July 15 putsch. He denies any involvement.

Police began searches in the Uskudar and Umraniye districts of Istanbul, including buildings belonging to an unnamed holding company, the agency said.

Since the coup, more than 35,000 people have been detained, of whom 17,000 have been placed under formal arrest, and tens of thousands more suspended in a purge of Turkey’s military, law-and-order, education and justice systems.

Erdogan accuses Gulen of harnessing an extensive network of schools, charities and businesses, built up in Turkey and abroad over decades, to infiltrate state institutions and build a “parallel structure” that aimed to take over the country.

He vowed this month to cut off the revenues of businesses linked to Gulen, describing them as “nests of terrorism” and promising no mercy in rooting them out.

Before the failed coup, in which more than 240 people were killed, the authorities had already seized Islamic lender Bank Asya, taken over or closed several media companies and detained businessmen on allegations of funding the cleric’s movement.

As part of the coup investigation, police also searched offices at the main courthouse on the Asian side of Istanbul on Wednesday as they raided the complex with detention warrants for 83 judicial personnel, Anadolu reported.

A day earlier police detained at least 136 court staff in raids on three halls of justice, including Turkey’s largest courthouse, on the European side of the city.

A former lawmaker from the ruling AK Party, Aydin Biyiklioglu, was also remanded in custody along with seven academics in the Black Sea city of Trazbon as part of the investigation, Anadolu said.

(Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Nick Tattersall)

Give us EU visa freedom in October or abandon migrant deal, Turkey says

urkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu speaks during a news conference with the Adviser to Pakistan's Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs,

By Michelle Martin and Humeyra Pamuk

BERLIN/ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey could walk away from its promise to stem the flow of illegal migrants to Europe if the European Union fails to grant Turks visa-free travel to the bloc in October, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told a German newspaper.

His comments in Bild’s Monday edition coincide with rising tension between Ankara and the West following the July 15 failed coup attempt. Turkey is incensed by what it sees as an insensitive response from Western allies to the failed putsch in which 240 people, many of them civilians, were killed.

Europe and the United States have been worried by the crackdown following the coup. Some Western governments are concerned this could affect stability in the NATO member and suspect that President Tayyip Erdogan is using the purges as an excuse to quash dissent.

Asked whether hundreds of thousands of refugees in Turkey would head to Europe if the EU did not grant Turks visa freedom from October, Cavusoglu told Bild: “I don’t want to talk about the worst case scenario – talks with the EU are continuing but it’s clear that we either apply all treaties at the same time or we put them all aside.”

Visa-free access to the EU – the main reward for Ankara’s collaboration in choking off an influx of migrants into Europe – has been subject to delays due to a dispute over Turkish anti-terrorism legislation, as well as Ankara’s crackdown.

Brussels wants Turkey to soften the anti-terrorism law, which Ankara says it cannot change, given multiple security threats which include Islamic State militants in neighboring Syria and Kurdish militants in its mainly Kurdish southeast.

European Commissioner Guenther Oettinger has said he does not see the EU granting Turks visa-free travel this year due to Ankara’s crackdown after the failed military coup.

Cavusoglu said treaties laid out that all Turks would get visa freedom in October, adding: “It can’t be that we implement everything that is good for the EU but that Turkey gets nothing in return.”

A spokesman for the European Commission declined to comment on the interview directly but said the EU continued to work together with Turkey in all areas of cooperation.

THOUSANDS DETAINED

Selim Yenel, Turkey’s ambassador to the EU, said last week that efforts were continuing to find a compromise with the EU on visa liberalization and he thought it would be possible to handle this in 2016.

Since the coup, more than 35,000 people have been detained, of whom 17,000 have been placed under formal arrest, and tens of thousands more suspended. Turkish authorities blame the failed putsch on U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen and his followers.

Amid rising tension with the West, Turkey has sought to normalize relations with Russia, sparking fears in the West that Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin might use a rapprochement to exert pressure on Washington and the EU and stir tensions within NATO.

Asked if Turkey would leave NATO, Cavusoglu told Bild that while Turkey remained one of the biggest supporters of the 28-nation Western alliance, it was also looking at other options.

“But it’s clear that we also need to cooperate with other partners on buying and selling weapon systems because some NATO partners refuse to allow us to sell air defense systems for example or to exchange information,” he said.

Over the weekend, Turkey summoned Austria’s charge d’affaires in Ankara over what it said it was an “indecent report” about Turkey on a news ticker at Vienna airport.

“Turkey allows sex with children under the age of 15,” read a headline on an electronic news ticker at the airport, images circulated on social media showed.

In a statement, Turkey’s foreign ministry said it was “regrettable” that an international airport at the heart of Europe was used as “a tool … in spreading such irresponsible, twisted and inaccurate messages”.

It said the publication of such “slandering” news reports were encouraged by recent comments from Austrian politicians.

Cavusoglu this month referred to Austria as the “capital of radical racism” after Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern suggested ending EU accession talks with Turkey.

(Additional reporting by Julia Fioretti in Brussels; writing by David Dolan; Editing by Paul Carrel and Richard Balmforth)

Military attaches, diplomats flee Turkey’s post-coup inquiry

A view of the building of Turkish Embassy in Athens, Greece,

By Orhan Coskun and Ece Toksabay

ANKARA (Reuters) – Two Turkish military attaches in Greece fled to Italy, others were caught overseas and some diplomats were on the run after being recalled as part of an inquiry into last month’s failed military coup, Turkey’s foreign minister said on Thursday.

Turkey, which has NATO’s second-biggest armed forces, has dismissed or detained thousands of soldiers, including nearly half of its generals, since the July 15 coup bid, in which rogue troops commandeered tanks and warplanes in an attempt to seize power.

Western allies worry President Tayyip Erdogan is using the failed putsch and purge to tighten his grip on power. But many Turks are angered by what they see as a lack of Western sympathy over a violent coup in which 240 people died.

“Democracy rallies”, largely attended by Erdogan supporters but also some parts of the opposition, have been held night after night since the putsch. Pollster Metropoll said on Thursday its monthly survey showed a surge in approval for Erdogan to 68 percent in July from 47 percent a month earlier.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told private broadcaster NTV that two military attaches in Greece — a naval officer and an army officer — had fled by car and ferry to Italy, but that Turkish officials would seek their return.

Cavusoglu said a military attache based in Kuwait had also tried to escape through Saudi Arabia, but had been sent back, as well as two generals based in Afghanistan who had been caught in Dubai by UAE authorities and returned to Turkey.

The hunt for fugitive Turkish officers and officials overseas expands from the crackdown at home, where tens of thousands of troops, police, and bureaucrats have been detained, dismissed or investigated for alleged links to the coup, which authorities blame on U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen.

Gulen denies any involvement and has condemned the coup bid. But he says Erdogan is using the purges to shore up his own power in Turkey.

“TIME HAS RUN OUT”

“There are those who have escaped. There have been escapees among our diplomats as well,” Cavusoglu told NTV in an interview. “As of yesterday, time has run out for those initially called back. We will carry out the legal operations for those who have not returned.”

Interior Minister Efkan Ala was quoted on Thursday as saying almost 76,100 civil servants have now been suspended.

The Greek foreign ministry said the two attaches fled before Ankara asked them to return to Turkey, and before officials canceled their diplomatic passports.

U.S. officials told Reuters this week that a Turkish military officer on a U.S.-based assignment for NATO is also seeking asylum in the United States after being recalled by the government.

A total of 160 members of the military wanted in connection with the failed coup are still at large, including nine generals, officials have said.

One official said the foreign ministry sent instructions to Turkish diplomatic missions around the world where those suspected of links to the plotters were thought to be working, ordering them back to Ankara as part of the investigations.

Five employees of Turkey’s embassy in the Netherlands were recalled on suspicion of involvement with the Gulen movement, the Turkish charge d’affaires told the Algemeen Dagblad newspaper this week.

“It wasn’t the cook or the servants,” Kurtulus Aykan, acting head of Turkey’s mission to the Netherlands, was quoted as saying. “These were high-ranking staff members. Talented people, with whom I had an excellent working relationship. I suspected nothing. That’s the talent of this movement. They infiltrate silently.”

Cavusoglu has previously said around 300 members of the foreign ministry have been suspended since the coup plot, including two ambassadors. He said on Thursday two officials in Bangladesh fled to New York, and another official had fled to Japan through Moscow.

“We will return these traitors to Turkey,” Cavusoglu said.

“PARALLEL STATE”

Erdogan accuses the U.S.-based cleric Gulen of staging the attempted putsch, harnessing his extensive network of schools, charities and businesses built up in Turkey and abroad over decades to create a “parallel structure”.

The abortive July 15 coup and the subsequent purge of the military has raised concern about the stability of Turkey, a key member of the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State and battling an insurgency at home by Kurdish militants.

Turkey has been angered by the Western response to the attempted coup, viewing Europe as more concerned about the rights of the plotters than the events themselves and the United States as reluctant to extradite Gulen.

That has chilled relations with Washington and the European Union, bringing repeated Turkish warnings about an EU deal to stem the flow of migrants. Erdogan has also repaired ties with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, a detente Western officials worry may be used to pressure the West.

“Sooner or later the United States of America will make a choice. Either Turkey or FETO,” Erdogan told a rally late on Wednesday, using an abbreviation standing for the “Gulenist Terror Group” which is how Ankara refers to Gulen’s movement.

The purge inside Turkey also presses on. Turkey has canceled the work permits of 27,424 people working in the education sector as part of its investigations, Education Minister Ismet Yilmaz said on Thursday.

Ankara prosecutors on Thursday also ordered the detention of 648 judges and prosecutors suspended a day earlier, Hurriyet newspaper and broadcasters said. They are among 3,500 judges and prosecutors — a quarter of the national total — suspended in the coup probe, according to state-run Anadolu Agency.

(Additional reporting by Michele Kambas in Athens, Daria Sito-Sucic in Sarajevo, Thomas Escritt in Amsterdam; Writing by Patrick Markey; Editing by Nick Tattersall)

Turkey warns EU it is making ‘serious mistakes’ over failed coup

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu

By Ece Toksabay and Tuvan Gumrukcu

ANKARA/ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey said on Wednesday the European Union was fueled by anti-Turkish sentiment and hostility to President Tayyip Erdogan and was making grave mistakes in its response to a failed coup which was costing it the trust of ordinary Turks.

Erdogan and many Turks have been incensed by what they see as the undue concern of Europe over a crackdown after the abortive July 15 putsch but indifference to the bloody events themselves, in which more than 240 people were killed.

“Unfortunately the EU is making some serious mistakes. They have failed the test following the coup attempt … Their issue is anti-Turkey and anti-Erdogan sentiment,” Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told the state-run Anadolu Agency.

“We have worked very hard toward EU (membership) these past 15 years. We never begged, but we worked very hard … Now two out of three people are saying we should stop talks with the EU.”

More than 60,000 people in the military, judiciary, civil service and education have been detained, suspended or placed under investigation since the coup attempt, in which rogue soldiers commandeered tanks and warplanes to try to take power.

Dismissals continued at Turkey’s Scientific and Technological Research Council (Tubitak), which has now removed 560 staff, private broadcaster NTV said on Wednesday.

Some of Turkey’s European allies are concerned Erdogan, already seen as an authoritarian leader, is using the coup attempt as an excuse to further tighten his grip. Turkish officials dismiss such claims, saying the purges are justified by the gravity of the threat posed by the putsch.

Western allies are also watching Erdogan’s rapprochement with Russian President Vladimir Putin, concerned that both leaders may use their detente and chilled relations with the West to pressure Washington and the European Union.

Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern has said Europe needs to think again about Turkey’s possible EU membership.

“I am interested in a fundamental discussion,” he said on Wednesday in an interview with broadcaster ORF.

“That fundamental discussion is: Can we accept someone within the EU who does not adhere to democratic standards, who has difficulty with human rights, and who ignores humanitarian necessities and necessities regarding the rule of law?”

Turkey began EU accession talks in 2005 but has made scant progress despite an initial burst of reforms. Many EU states are not eager to see such a large, mostly Muslim country as a member, and are concerned that Ankara’s record on basic freedoms has gone into reverse in recent years.

In a return to combative form, Erdogan on Wednesday took aim at Turkey’s banks, saying they should not be charging high interest in the aftermath of the coup plot and promising to take action against lenders who “go the wrong way”.

Erdogan has repeatedly equated high interest rates with treason and called for lower borrowing costs to fuel growth, raising concern about the independence of the central bank.

‘LOSING’ TURKEY

Erdogan on Tuesday took a big step toward normalizing ties with Russia, meeting Putin in a visit to St Petersburg, his first foreign trip since the failed putsch.

Putin said Moscow would phase out sanctions against Ankara, imposed after the Turks shot down a Russian fighter jet near the Syrian border nine months ago, and that bringing ties to their pre-crisis level was the priority.

“We’re not mending relations with Russia to send a message to the West,” Minister Cavusoglu said. “If the West loses Turkey one day, it will not be because of Turkey’s relations with Russia, China, or the Islamic world, but rather because of themselves.”

Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin told reporters in Ankara it was normal for Turkey to seek “other options” on defense cooperation as it had not received the expected support from its western friends and NATO allies following the failed coup.

NATO said on Wednesday that Turkey’s membership was not in question and that Ankara could count on its solidarity and support after the coup bid, which has triggered deep purges in the alliance’s second-largest armed forces.

Putin said on Tuesday Moscow would gradually phase out sanctions against Ankara, imposed after the Turks shot down a Russian fighter jet near the Syrian border nine months ago, and that bringing ties to their pre-crisis level was the priority.

Cavusoglu also indicated that Turkey could find common ground with Russia on Syria, where they have been on opposing sides of the conflict. Moscow backs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while Turkey says he is a dictator who must be removed.

“We think similarly regarding the ceasefire, humanitarian aid and (the need for) political resolution in Syria,” Cavusoglu said, although he added the two may think differently on how to implement the ceasefire.

He said Turkey was building a “strong mechanism” with Russia to find a solution in Syria, and a delegation including the foreign ministry, military and intelligence officials would go to Russia on Wednesday for talks.

(Additional reporting by Francois Murphy in Vienna; Writing by Nick Tattersall and David Dolan; editing by Patrick Markey and Richard Balmforth)

Putin tells Erdogan he hopes Ankara can restore order after failed coup

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan attend their meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia,

ST PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin told his visiting Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan he hoped Ankara could fully restore order after a failed military coup last month, saying on Tuesday that Moscow always opposed unconstitutional actions.

Erdogan’s trip to Russia comes as Turkey’s relations with Europe and the United States are strained by what Ankara sees as Western concern about how it handled the abortive coup, in which more than 240 people were killed.

Putin, one of the first to call the Turkish leader to offer his support in the putsch’s aftermath, has positioned himself as a reliable ally even though ties between Moscow and Ankara were thrown into crisis by Turkey shooting down a Russian military jet near the Syrian border late last year.

Welcoming Erdogan in a Tsarist-era palace just outside his home town, Putin signaled on Tuesday he was ready to improve relations with Turkey, which he said had gone from a historical high point to a very low level.

“Your visit today, which you made despite the really complex domestic political situation in Turkey, shows we all want to restart our dialogue and restore our relations,” said Putin, in preliminary remarks before the two men held talks.

Putin then offered Erdogan moral support over last month’s failed military coup.

“I want to again say that it’s our principled position that we are always categorically against any attempts at unconstitutional actions,” said Putin.

“I want to express the hope that under your leadership the Turkish people will cope with this problem (the coup’s aftermath) and that order and constitutional legality will be restored.”

Putin said the two men would discuss how to restore trade and economic ties and cooperation against terrorism.

Russia imposed trade sanctions on Turkey in the wake of the shooting down of its jet and the number of Russian tourists visiting the country fell by 87 percent in the first half of 2016.

Erdogan said Turkey was entering a “very different period” in its relations with Russia, and that solidarity between the two countries would help the resolution of regional problems.

He may also hope his trip to Russia will give pause for thought to some in the West who are nervous about the prospect of a rapprochement between Moscow and Ankara at a time when Turkey’s ties with NATO and the EU are under strain.

(Reporting by Olesya Astakhova/Andrew Osborn in MOSCOW and by Ece Toksabay, Tuvan Gumrukcu and Nick Tattersal in TURKEY; Editing by Alexander Winning)

Turkey says rising anti-Americanism can be calmed by Gulen extradition

People pose with policemen after troops involved in the coup surrendered on the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey

By Seda Sezer and Tuvan Gumrukcu

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Anti-American sentiment among Turks is on the rise and can only be calmed by the United States extraditing the Muslim cleric Ankara accuses of orchestrating last month’s failed coup, Turkey’s justice minister said on Tuesday.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan blames Fethullah Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in rural Pennsylvania since 1999, and his followers for the July 15 coup, in which more than 240 people were killed and nearly 2,200 wounded.

Turkey has launched a series of mass purges of suspected Gulen supporters in its armed forces, other state institutions, universities, schools and the media since the abortive coup, prompting Western concerns for the stability of a key NATO ally.

Erdogan, who was visiting Russia on Tuesday, has criticized the United States and the European Union for showing what he says is a lack of solidarity with Turkey over the coup and of caring more for the rights of people he views as traitors.

“There is a serious anti-American feeling in Turkey, and this is turning into hatred,” Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said in an interview with state-run Anadolu Agency, broadcast live on Turkish television channels. “It is in the hands of the United States to stop this anti-American feeling leading to hatred.”

Responding to Turkey’s demand for Gulen’s extradition, U.S. President Barack Obama has said Ankara must first provide clear evidence of wrongdoing. Last week a State Department spokesman said Washington was evaluating new documents it had received.

The 75-year-old Gulen, who built up a network of schools, charities and businesses in Turkey and abroad over decades, denies any involvement in the coup and has condemned it. He has also accused Erdogan of using the coup to amass greater powers.

“POLITICAL DECISION”

“Whether the U.S. extradites Gulen or not this will be a political decision,” Bozdag said. “If he is not extradited, Turkey will have been sacrificed for a terrorist.”

A recent opinion poll showed two thirds of Turks agree with their president that Gulen was behind the coup plot. Turkey has been holding almost daily mass rallies since July 15 in support of democracy and the government and against the plotters.

Authorities have suspended, detained or put under investigation tens of thousands of people in the armed forces, the judiciary, civil service and elsewhere since the coup, in which a faction of the military commandeered warplanes, helicopters and tanks in an attempt to topple the government.

On Tuesday Bozdag put the number of people now formally arrested awaiting trial at 16,000, adding that a further 6,000 detainees were still being processed. Another 7,668 people are under investigation but have not been detained, he said.

Since the abortive putsch, pro-government papers have been awash with conspiracy theories accusing the United States and the CIA of being the masterminds. Turkish officials privately said such reports do not reflect Ankara’s formal stance.

One paper said the attempted power grab was financed by the CIA and directed by a retired U.S. army general using a cell in Afghanistan while another claims CIA agents used an island hotel off Istanbul as a nerve center for the plot.

Echoing Erdogan’s criticism of the West, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Tuesday repeated a pledge to bring Gulen back to Turkey.

“That terrorist leader will come to Turkey and pay for what he did. We will hold him accountable for the blood of our martyrs and veterans,” Yildirim told a meeting of his ruling Islamist-rooted AK Party in parliament.

“That religious, impudent, lying, bloody murdering nothing will be surely held accountable.”

NATO member Turkey hosts American troops and warplanes at its Incirlik Air Base, an important staging area for the U.S.-led fight against Islamic State militants in neighboring Iraq and Syria.

The chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford tried to soothe strained ties with Turkey during a visit to Incirlik and Ankara just over a week ago. In Ankara he inspected the damage inflicted by the plotters’ fighter jets on the Turkish parliament building.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to visit Turkey on Aug. 24.

Turkish authorities have said the country’s intelligence service has cracked into several smartphone messaging apps that Gulen’s followers used to communicate with each other in the years ahead of the coup attempt and was able to trace tens of thousands of people from the group.

A senior Turkish official said Turkey’s intelligence agency has identified at least 56,000 operatives of Gulen’s network after cracked a little-known smartphone messaging app called ByLock, which he said the group began using in 2014. By this year, Turkish intelligence were able to map their network.

“Our assessment is that 150,000 unique operatives used ByLock to communicate with others,” the official said. The group had also used another app called Eagle which could be disguised as other popular instant messaging apps such as Whatsapp and Tango, he added.

“We assess that Eagle was used by operatives to share various operational details as well as during the planning stage of the July 15 coup attempt,” the official said, adding that the Gulen network continued to use Eagle.

(Additional repporting by Daren Butler and Gulsen Solaker in Ankara; Writing Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Patrick Markey and Gareth Jones)

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