Gulen movement to be treated as separatist terrorist group: Erdogan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the movement affiliated to US-based opposition cleric Fethullah Gulen would be treated as “another separatist terrorist organization” in the wake of last Friday’s failed coup attempt against his government.

“We will continue the fight... wherever they might be. These people have infiltrated the state organizations in this country and they rebelled against the state," Erdogan said in an exclusive interview with Reuters in the capital Ankara on Thursday, describing the botched putsch as “inhuman” and “immoral.”

He drew a parallel between the Gulen movement and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), calling the former a malignant cancer that could develop if not eliminated.

“We will do everything necessary to have the highest rate of success. Whatever the law allows or admits,” the Turkish president added.

“We never considered even the possibility that they might be involved in this kind of treason... We supported them to the fullest as citizens of our country,” Erdogan said, adding, “They are traitors... They have always been two-faced, if you want, and now we see their real face very clearly,” he commented.

Gulen has denied any role in the coup attempt, warning the Turks instead that the move could have been orchestrated by the government to purge its opponents. 

State of emergency

The Turkish president also defended the declaration of a three-month state of emergency in Turkey, noting that the measure could be extended beyond that period if necessary.

“This state of emergency is not a curfew. People will still be on the street minding their own business and getting on with daily life,” he said.

Erdogan said the death toll from the failed coup attempt had risen to 246 people, excluding the coup plotters, and that 2,185 people had sustained injuries.

The remarks came on the same day that the Turkish General Staff vowed to severely punish those involved in the failed coup, accusing the putschists of having “disgraced the Turkish state, its history, and armed forces.”

Turkish officials have launched a large-scale crackdown following last Friday’s attempted coup d’état.

Turkey’s Ministry of National Education announced in a statement on Tuesday that it had dismissed 15,200 of its employees from their jobs over their alleged involvement in the putsch.

The Turkish public broadcaster TRT also reported that the country's High Education Board had ordered the resignation of 1,577 deans, including 1,176 in public universities and 401 in private institutions.

Sources in Turkey’s Interior Ministry said on Monday that a total of 8,777 public personnel had been dismissed from their official positions since the coup against the government was declared late last Friday.

Meanwhile, Turkey’s Religious Affairs Directorate has announced that imams would not lead prayers and funerals for the slain supporters of the attempted military coup.

The directorate, which employs all of Turkey’s 75,000 religious preachers, said on Tuesday that the ban would not apply to those who were caught in the violence.

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