News / Turkey

Erdogan's military aide detained after coup: Media

Sunday, 17 July 2016 5:54 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 17 July 2016 5:54 PM ]

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C) reacts after attending the funeral of a victim of the coup attempt of July 15, in Istanbul, July 17, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

A top military adviser to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been detained in the wake of the recent abortive coup, local media say.

The state-run Anadolu news agency said Sunday that Colonel Ali Yazici, who started working for Erdogan in August 2015, is accused of involvement in the coup plot and was in the Turkish capital of Ankara during the weekend violence.

The detention came after Ankara launched an intensive crackdown on the judiciary and the military, with over 6,000 people reportedly arrested over the coup attempt.

"Now the clean-up operations are continuing. We have around 6,000 people detained. The number will increase above 6,000," Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag was quoted as saying by Anadolu.

The botched putsch began late on July 15, when a faction of the Turkish military blocked Istanbul’s iconic Bosphorus Bridge and strafed the headquarters of the Turkish intelligence agency and parliament in the capital.

Tanks, helicopters and soldiers clashed with police and people on the streets of the two main cities.

Erdogan rushed back to Istanbul from a Mediterranean holiday and called on people to defy the coup plotters’ orders of a curfew and stage a rally in support of his government.

According to a latest report by the Turkish Foreign Ministry, the death toll from Turkey’s failed military coup has risen to more than 290. Over 1,400 people have also been wounded.

Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen speaks to journalists at his home in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, July 16, 2016. (Photo by Reuters)

Meanwhile, Turkey has called for the extradition of eight people thought to have been involved in the attempted coup who landed aboard a military helicopter in Greece on Saturday.

Erdogan has blamed Fethullah Gulen for the coup plot, but the US-based cleric “categorically” denied the claim and described it as “insulting.”

The Turkish president has repeatedly accused the cleric of plotting to overthrow him by building a network of supporters in the media, judiciary and education, an allegation Gulen denies.

Erdogan and Gulen were allies until police and prosecutors, seen as sympathetic to the latter, opened a corruption investigation into Erdogan’s inner circle in 2013.

The investigation led to the resignation of the ministers of economy, interior, and urbanization. Gulen is also viewed to be behind the leaks that led to the probe.

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