Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci said a coup attempt in Turkey exactly one year ago had been thwarted by the courage of the Turkish people who took to the streets answering the call of President Tayyip Erdogan.
Speaking at an event to mark the anniversary of the attempt, Akinci said democracy and law were the greatest force against the coup.
He wished Turkey a good future as a democratic and secular state, on the path showed by its first president Kemal Ataturk.
In the aftermath of the failed July 15, 2016 putsch, around 50,000 people have been jailed pending trial and 150,000 people suspended from work.
The president’s ruling AK Party says the coup was planned by supporters of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen deeply embedded in Turkey’s institutions – the army, schools and courts – and only a massive purge could neutralise the threat.
Several people have been arrested in the north of Cyprus, including Turkish Cypriot Mufti Talip Atalay, who was briefly detained last week during a visit to Turkey.
Atalay had gone to Turkey to visit his father in hospital in Mersin and then went to Diyarbakir where he was arrested in connection with investigations into the Fethullah Gulen movement.
Acdording to daily Kibris, the reasons behind Atalay’s arrest were a number of accusations against him from the foreign ‘ministry’ in the north and for meetings he had with other religious leaders of the island as part of the interreligious dialogue that runs in parallel with the peace talks at political level.
In Turkey, even ownership of one-dollar bills has been enough to raise suspicion. Authorities believe Gulen supporters, labelled the Gulenist Terrorist Organisation (FETO) by the government, used the notes to identify fellow members.
Arrested soldiers have been paraded in court in front of television cameras, crowds throwing nooses at them in a call to reinstate the death penalty for the coup plotters. Other detainees wait to learn their fate.
“They penetrated everywhere,” Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus told Reuters, adding that eliminating the influence of Gulen, a former ally of Erdogan as he built up his power base, would take years.
