Tag Archives: coup

Turkish Supreme Military Council replaces land, air and navy commanders: media

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan addresses academics during a meeting at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey July 26, 2017. Murat Cetinmuhurdar/Presidential Palace/Handout via REUTERS

ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey decided on Wednesday to replace the heads of the army, air force and navy, local media reported, in the latest shake-up of the armed forces following last year’s failed coup.

The heads of the three branches will be replaced by other top members of the military, broadcaster NTV reported, following a meeting on Wednesday of the Supreme Military Council (YAS) chaired by Prime Minister Binali Yildirim.

The changes are expected to be presented to President Tayyip Erdogan for approval and then announced to the public. Military officials were not immediately available for comment.

The commander of the Turkish Land Forces, Salih Zeki Colak, will be replaced by the commander of the gendarmerie forces Yasar Guler, broadcaster NTV reported. It said Naval commander Bulent Bostanoglu would be replaced by Adnan Ozbal, a vice-admiral.

Air Force commander Abidin Unal will be replaced by Hasan Kucukakyuz, currently commander of the Turkish Warfare Air Force, NTV said.

However, Wednesday’s meeting marks its top military body’s third gathering since last July’s failed coup attempt, when rogue soldiers commandeered tanks, fighter jets and helicopters in an attempt to topple the government.

Last year, the YAS reduced the length of some officers’ service, while also putting 586 colonels into retirement and extending the period of service of another 434 colonels by two years.

(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by David Dolan)

Turkey opens trial of nearly 500 defendants over failed coup

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan addresses academics during a meeting at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey July 26, 2017. Murat Cetinmuhurdar/Presidential Palace/Handout via REUTERS

ANKARA (Reuters) – Nearly 500 suspects including army generals and pilots went on trial in Turkey on Tuesday, many of them accused of commanding last year’s failed coup attempt from an air base in the capital Ankara.

Families of those killed or wounded protested outside the courthouse, with some throwing hangman’s nooses or stones toward the defendants as they arrived under tight guard, shouting “murderers” and demanding that the death penalty be reinstated.

The government declared a state of emergency after the coup attempt and embarked on a large-scale crackdown that has alarmed Western allies of Ankara, a NATO member and candidate for European Union membership.

A total of 461 suspects jailed pending trial were brought to the courthouse, handcuffed and each flanked by two gendarme officers. Seven defendants are still on the run, while another 18 have been charged but not in jail.

The main defendant in the case is the 76-year-old U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whose followers are blamed by the government for carrying out the failed coup. Gulen is being tried in absentia, and denies any role in the coup attempt.

Former air force commander Akin Ozturk and other defendants stationed at an air base northwest of the capital are accused of directing the coup and bombing government buildings, including parliament, and attempting to kill President Tayyip Erdogan.

If convicted, many of the 486 suspects risk life terms in prison for crimes that include violating the constitution, attempted assassination of the president, trying to abolish the republic and seizing military headquarters.

Several similar cases are under way in Turkey after the coup attempt on July 15, 2016 that resulted in some 250 deaths. Some 30 coup plotters were also killed.

The authorities declared a state of emergency following the coup and embarked on a crackdown on Gulen’s network and other opponents, arresting more than 50,000 people and purging over 150,000 people from public sector jobs.

Alarmed by the crackdown, Germany wants to suspend talks about modernizing the EU-Turkey customs union and wants measures implemented to raise financial pressure on Turkey to respect the rule of law, according to a draft paper seen by Reuters.

Erdogan’s government says the purge is needed to address Turkey’s security challenges and to root out what it says is a deeply embedded network of Gulen supporters – who were once Erdogan’s allies until they fell out in 2013.

The government says the coup-plotters used Akinci air base as their headquarters. Turkey’s military chief Hulusi Akar and other commanders were held captive for several hours at the base on the night of the coup.

(Reporting by Mert Ozkan; Writing by Ece Toksabay, editing by Alister Doyle)

Turkish court remands four opposition newspaper staff in custody, releases seven

Press freedom activists shout slogans during a demonstration in solidarity with the jailed members of the opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet outside a courthouse, in Istanbul, Turkey, July 28, 2017. The banner reads: "To hell with despotism. Long live freedom".REUTERS/Murad Sezer

By Can Sezer

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – A Turkish court ruled on Friday that four prominent members of an opposition newspaper must remain in detention but freed seven others for the duration of the trial, in a case seen by critics of President Tayyip Erdogan as an attack on free speech.

Since the first hearing in the case on Monday, hundreds of people have protested outside the central Istanbul court against the prosecution of 17 writers, executives and lawyers of the secularist Cumhuriyet newspaper.

The court remanded in custody the chairman of Cumhuriyet’s executive committee Akin Atalay, its chief editor Murat Sabuncu, and reporters Kadri Gursel and Ahmet Sik until the next hearing on Sept. 11, citing the gravity of the charges they face.

Chief judge Abdurrahman Orkun Dag freed seven others until the next hearing on “judicial probation” – meaning they cannot leave the country and must report regularly to a police station.

Turkish prosecutors are seeking up to 43 years in jail for the newspaper staff, who stand accused of targeting Erdogan through “asymmetric war methods”.

The 324-page indictment alleges Cumhuriyet was effectively taken over by the network of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is blamed for a failed coup last July, and used to “veil the actions of terrorist groups”.

Cumhuriyet says the charges are “imaginary accusations and slander”.

“THEY’RE TELLING US TO KNEEL”

Gursel, along with Sabuncu and other senior staff, has been in pre-trial detention for more than 260 days.

“They’re telling us to kneel. Members of this rotten entity, with its gunmen and tyrants who lack honor, should know very well that until today I’ve only kneeled before my mother and father, and will never ever kneel before anybody else,” Sik told the crowded courtroom.

The court ordered an investigation into Sik, who once wrote a book critical of Gulen’s movement, for comments he made during his defense.

Social media posts comprised the bulk of evidence in the indictment, along with allegations that staff had been in contact with users of Bylock, an encrypted messaging app the government says was used by Gulen’s followers.

Following Friday’s ruling, lawyers marched outside the courthouse, chanting “right, law, justice”, as armored police vehicles and officers stood with tear gas and automatic weapons.

Former chief editor Can Dundar, who is living in Germany, is being tried in absentia, and the court said an arrest warrant for him remained in force.

Rights groups and Turkey’s Western allies have complained of deteriorating human rights under Erdogan. In the crackdown since last July’s failed coup, 50,000 people have been jailed pending trial and some 150,000 detained or dismissed from their jobs.

In a joint statement, several international observers, including Reporters without Borders, called for the release of all 17 defendants, saying the case amounted to a “politically motivated effort to criminalize journalism”.

During Turkey’s crackdown, some 150 media outlets have been shut and around 160 journalists jailed, the Turkish Journalists’ Association says.

Authorities say the crackdown is justified by the gravity of the coup attempt, in which rogue soldiers tried to overthrow the government, killing 250 people, mostly civilians.

(Writing by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Gareth Jones)

Pro-Kurdish party launches protests against Turkish crackdown

Pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) lawmakers leave from a park after a party meeting in Diyarbakir, Turkey, July 25, 2017. REUTERS/Sertac Kayar

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) – Turkey’s pro-Kurdish parliamentary opposition launched three months of protests on Tuesday against a state crackdown which has seen dozens of lawmakers and mayors jailed over suspected links to militant separatists.

Hundreds of police, backed by armored vehicles and water cannon, imposed tight security at a park where 10 lawmakers of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) gathered in Diyarbakir, the largest city in the mainly Kurdish southeast of the country.

The HDP said police had initially allowed the protest, but later blocked off shaded areas of the park, leaving access only to an exposed paved area under a hot sun. It said in a statement only a few of its members were able to make their way inside.

“The blockade at this park is a sign of the real situation in Turkey… A political party that got 70 percent of votes (in Diyarbakir) cannot carry out its group meeting in the park,” HDP spokesman Osman Baydemir told reporters.

Ankara says the HDP is linked to the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has fought a three-decades-old insurgency and is deemed a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and European Union. The HDP denies the allegation.

Eleven HDP deputies have been jailed pending trial, more than 70 elected mayors from the HDP’s southeastern affiliate have been remanded in custody in terrorism-related investigations, and their municipalities taken over by state officials. Thousands of party members have also been arrested.

The HDP plans to hold round-the-clock, week-long protests led by its own lawmakers in Istanbul, the southeastern city of Van and the western port city of Izmir as part of the campaign.

“NO VIOLENCE, NO ANIMOSITY”

“Fascism can only be stopped through a democratic battle. This is what we’re saying. We will be here for seven days, 24 hours a day,” said Baydemir. “No violence, no animosity, we are just shouting that we have not given in to fascism.”

Baydmemir has said the HDP will hold protests until Nov. 4, the anniversary of the arrest of its co-leaders Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag. Their arrests drew international condemnation and Yuksekdag has since been stripped of her parliamentary status and replaced as co-chairwoman.

The HDP protest call came two weeks after Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of Turkey’s main opposition party, the secularist CHP, completed a 25-day protest march from the capital Ankara to Istanbul over a state crackdown on suspected supporters of last year’s abortive military coup.

Turkish authorities have jailed, pending trial, more than 50,000 people and suspended or dismissed some 150,000 from their jobs since imposing emergency rule soon after the failed putsch.

(Writing by Daren Butler and Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Gareth Jones)

In shadow of crackdown, Turkey commemorates failed coup

People wave Turkey's national flags as they arrive to attend a ceremony marking the first anniversary of the attempted coup at the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey July 15, 2017. REUTERS/Murad Sezer

By Tuvan Gumrukcu

ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan and members of the opposition came together on Saturday to mark the anniversary of last year’s failed coup, in a moment of ceremonial unity all but overshadowed by the sweeping purges that have shaken society since.

The gathering in parliament was one of the first in a string of events planned through the weekend to commemorate the night of July 15, when thousands of unarmed civilians took to the streets to defy rogue soldiers who commandeered tanks and warplanes and bombed parliament in an attempt to seize power.

More than 240 people died before the coup was put down, a show of popular defiance that has likely ended decades of military interference in Turkish politics.

But along with a groundswell of nationalism, the coup’s greatest legacy has been the far-reaching crackdown.

Some 150,000 people have been sacked or suspended from jobs in the civil service and private sector and more than 50,000 detained for alleged links to the putsch. On Friday, the government said it had dismissed another 7,000 police, civil servants and academics for suspected links to the Muslim cleric it blames for the putsch.

“Our people did not leave sovereignty to their enemies and took hold of democracy to the death,” Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said, as Erdogan and members of opposition parties looked on. “These monsters will surely receive the heaviest punishment they can within the law.”

Critics, including rights groups and some Western governments, say that Erdogan is using the state of emergency introduced after the coup to target opposition figures including rights activists, pro-Kurdish politicians and journalists.

The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) was represented by its deputy chairman as the party’s two co-leaders are in jail – as are local members of rights group Amnesty International and nearly 160 journalists, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

‘JUSTICE DESTROYED’

At the parliamentary ceremony, the head of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) decried what he said was the erosion of democracy following the coup.

“This parliament, which withstood bombs, has been rendered obsolete and its authority removed,” said Kemal Kilicdaroglu, in a reference to an April referendum that Erdogan narrowly won, giving him sweeping executive powers.

“In the past year, justice has been destroyed. Instead of rapid normalization, a permanent state of emergency has been implemented.”

Kilicdaroglu this month finished a 25-day, 425 km (265 mile) “justice march” from Ankara to Istanbul, to protest the detention of a CHP lawmaker. The march, although largely ignored by the pro-government media, culminated in a massive rally in Istanbul against the crackdown.

In the run-up to the anniversary of July 15, Turkish media has been saturated by coverage from last year’s coup, with some channels showing almost constant footage of young men and even headscarved mothers facing down armed soldiers and tanks in Istanbul.

One man, 20-year-old Ismet Dogan, said he and his friends took to the streets of Istanbul the night of the coup after they heard the call from Erdogan to defy the soldiers. He was shot in both legs by soldiers, he told the website of broadcaster TRT Haber.

“My friends and I said, ‘We have one nation, if we are to die, let’s do it like men’,” he said. “Everyone who was there with me had come there to die. Nobody was afraid of death.”

(Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

A year after failed coup, crackdown shakes pillar of Turkish state

supporters of Erdogan after coup

By Yesim Dikmen and Daren Butler

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Late one night in early February, Ibrahim Kaboglu learned that he had been targeted in the sweeping crackdown that followed Turkey’s failed coup a year ago.

“Sir, you are in the decree,” a colleague told the 67-year-old constitutional law professor by phone, referring to a list of 4,000 employees suspended from their jobs in a single swoop.

Five months later, as Turkey’s government prepares to commemorate thwarting the attempted overthrow of President Tayyip Erdogan, Kaboglu is still barred from his job at Marmara University and a year-long purge continues – hitting the judiciary particularly hard.

A quarter of judges and prosecutors have been sacked, leaving under-resourced courts swamped with tens of thousands of cases against people targeted in the crackdown, and weakening a pillar of constitutional authority in Turkey.

Kaboglu was half-expecting the call, he said, and he chose to carry on working into the night rather than wake up his wife and daughter. But the sense of inevitability could not soften the blow.

“For a jurist who has reached the last stage of his professional career, to be included in a … decree prepared in an anti-constitutional way, has an impact that is worse than death,” he said. “Because your whole life has passed in a struggle for the law.”

Around 50,000 people have been jailed pending trial and 150,000 people like Kaboglu suspended from work since the failed July 15, 2016 putsch, when rogue soldiers commandeered warplanes, tanks and helicopters, attacked parliament and tried to abduct Erdogan, killing 250 people.

The president’s ruling AK Party says the coup was planned by supporters of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen deeply embedded in Turkey’s institutions – the army, schools and courts – and only a massive purge could neutralize the threat.

But for those targeted in the crackdown the effect has been devastating. Stripped either of their liberty or their livelihood, they have little prospect of employment.

“You are deprived of all your rights. They say you cannot work (in Turkey) … You cannot work abroad either. My pension rights were taken away,” Kaboglu told Reuters.

The wider impact on the judiciary has been an erosion of legal safeguards, Kaboglu and other critics say, accusing Erdogan of using last year’s attempted coup as an excuse to trample on constitutional rights.

ONE-MAN RULE

Turkey’s main opposition leader, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, echoed that charge at a rally in Istanbul on Sunday, the biggest protest yet against the crackdown, when he described the state of emergency imposed last July as a second coup.

“All powers of the legislature, judiciary and executive have been concentrated in one person,” Kilicdaroglu told protesters.

“The independence and impartiality of the judiciary, which underpins democracy and the protection of all rights to life and property, must be ensured,” he said.

The crackdown, and a bitterly fought April referendum which granted greater presidential powers to Erdogan, have strained Turkey’s ties with the European Union and put its decades-old ambition to join the bloc in limbo.

Turkey’s justice ministry says “procedures” have been launched against 169,000 people. Some had used a messaging app favored by Gulen’s network, others worked at schools founded by his supporters or held accounts at a Gulen-linked bank.

Even ownership of one-dollar bills has been enough to raise suspicion. Authorities believe Gulen supporters, labeled 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.

“We are talking about a structure (going back) more than 40 years, hence it is not possible to cleanse it in one day,” Kurtulmus said.

Acknowledging that mistakes could be made in a wide-ranging purge, he said 33,000 people had been restored to their posts. People wrongly caught up could also apply to a commission which is starting to operate.

“This is a process that will continue for a long time. We have to continue very decisively,” he said, adding that this weekend’s commemoration of the failed coup would strengthen Turkey’s resolve to continue to confront those behind the coup.

“Neither the heroism nor the treachery should be allowed to be forgotten … Every one of our 80 million people, whatever their political view, should support our fight against FETO,” he said. “This cleansing will go on to the end.”

Erdogan has been reinforcing that message in a series of high profile ceremonies this week, which will culminate in a speech in Ankara at 2.34 am on Sunday, a year to the minute since parliament came under fire from the coup plotters.

For Kaboglu, who described himself as an enemy of the Gulenists when they were in alliance with Erdogan’s ruling AK Party, being “thrown in the same bag” as them in the post-coup crackdown was a cruel irony.

“Those who were affected were people like me who defend the law,” he said. “I defended human rights and the state of law 15 years ago and I defend them today. I will defend them in 10 years time if I live that long.”

(Additional reporting by Orhan Coskun and Ercan Gurses; Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Giles Elgood)

Helicopter attacks Venezuela court, Maduro denounces coup bid

Demonstrators holding a Venezuelan flag attend a rally against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas, Venezuela June 27, 2017. REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado

By Silene Ramírez and Eyanir Chinea

CARACAS (Reuters) – A Venezuelan police helicopter strafed the Supreme Court and a government ministry on Tuesday, escalating the OPEC nation’s political crisis in what President Nicolas Maduro called an attack by “terrorists” seeking a coup.

The aircraft fired 15 shots at the Interior Ministry, where scores of people were at a social event, and dropped four grenades on the court, where judges were meeting, officials said.

However, there were no reports of injuries.

“Sooner rather than later, we are going to capture the helicopter and those behind this armed terrorist attack against the institutions of the country,” Maduro said.

“They could have caused dozens of deaths,” he said.

The 54-year-old socialist leader has faced three months of protests from opposition leaders who decry him as a dictator who has wrecked a once-prosperous economy. There has been growing dissent too from within government and the security forces.

At least 75 people have died, and hundreds more been injured and arrested, in the anti-government unrest since April.

Demonstrators are demanding general elections, measures to alleviate a brutal economic crisis, freedom for hundreds of jailed opposition activists, and independence for the opposition-controlled National Assembly legislature.

Maduro says they are seeking a coup against him with the encouragement of a U.S. government eager to gain control of Venezuela’s oil reserves, the largest in the world.

Venezuela’s government said in a communique the helicopter was stolen by investigative police pilot Oscar Perez, who declared himself in rebellion against Maduro.

Images shared on social and local media appear to show Perez waving a banner from the helicopter reading “Liberty”, and the number “350” in large letters.

The number refers to the constitutional article allowing people the right to oppose an undemocratic government.

A video posted on Perez’ Instagram account around the same time showed him standing in front of several hooded armed men, saying an operation was underway to restore democracy.

Perez said in the video he represented a coalition of military, police and civilian officials opposed to the “criminal” government, urged Maduro’s resignation and called for general elections. “This fight is … against the vile government. Against tyranny,” he said.

Local media also linked Perez to a 2015 action film, Suspended Death, which he co-produced and starred in as an intelligence agent rescuing a kidnapped businessman.

On Tuesday, witnesses reported hearing several detonations in downtown Caracas, where the pro-Maduro Supreme Court, the presidential palace and other key government buildings are located.

Opponents to Maduro view the Interior Ministry as a bastion of repression and also hate the Supreme Court for its string of rulings bolstering the president’s power and undermining the opposition-controlled legislature.

VOTE CONTROVERSY

Opposition leaders have long been calling on Venezuela’s security forces to stop obeying Maduro.

However, there was also some speculation among opposition supporters on social media that the attack could have been staged to justify repression or cover up drama at Venezuela’s National Assembly, where two dozen lawmakers said they were being besieged by pro-government gangs.

Earlier on Tuesday, Maduro warned that he and supporters would take up arms if his socialist government was violently overthrown by opponents.

“If Venezuela was plunged into chaos and violence and the Bolivarian Revolution destroyed, we would go to combat. We would never give up, and what couldn’t be done with votes, we would do with arms, we would liberate the fatherland with arms,” he said.

Maduro, who replaced Hugo Chavez in 2013, is pushing a July 30 vote for a special super-body called a Constituent Assembly, which could rewrite the national charter and supersede other institutions such as the opposition-controlled congress.

He has touted the assembly as the only way to bring peace to Venezuela. But opponents, who want to bring forward the next presidential election scheduled for late 2018, say it is a sham poll designed purely to keep the socialists in power.

They are boycotting the vote, and protesting daily on the streets to try and have it stopped.

Maduro said the “destruction” of Venezuela would lead to a huge refugee wave dwarfing the Mediterranean migrant crisis.

“Listen, President Donald Trump,” he said earlier on Tuesday. “You would have to build 20 walls in the sea, a wall from Mississippi to Florida, from Florida to New York, it would be crazy … You have the responsibility: stop the madness of the violent Venezuelan right wing.”

Opposition to the July 30 vote has come not just from Venezuelan opposition parties but also from the chief state prosecutor Luisa Ortega and one-time government heavyweights such as former intelligence service boss Miguel Rodriguez.

Rodriguez criticized Maduro for not holding a referendum before the Constituent Assembly election, as his predecessor Chavez had done in 1999.

“This is a country without government, this is chaos,” he told a news conference on Tuesday. “The people are left out … They (the government) are seeking solutions outside the constitution.”

The government said pilot Perez was linked to Rodriguez.

Neither men, nor representatives for them, could be reached immediately to comment on the accusations.

(Additional reporting by Deisy Buitrago, Girish Gupta, Eyanir Chinea, Andrew Cawthorne and Andreina Aponte; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Andrew Hay, Paul Tait and Himani Sarkar)

Roads blocked round Venezuela as anti-Maduro protests persist

By Andrew Cawthorne

CARACAS (Reuters) – Manning barricades, sitting in deck chairs and sharing food, opposition supporters blocked roads in various parts of Venezuela on Monday to try to keep pressure on socialist President Nicolas Maduro.

Demonstrators have been on the streets daily since early April to demand elections, freedom for jailed activists, foreign humanitarian aid to offset Venezuela’s economic crisis, and autonomy for the opposition-controlled legislature.

Maduro accuses them of seeking a violent coup.

Protesters have used constantly varying tactics. Some rode horses through Caracas on Saturday, women took letters and flowers to police and military posts on Sunday’s Mother’s Day, and hundreds were joining planned daylong sit-ins from 7 a.m. on Monday.

“I’m here for the full 12 hours. And I’ll be back every day there’s a protest, for as long as is necessary,” said human resources worker Anelin Rojas, 30, sitting cross-legged with a novel and earphones in the middle of Caracas’ main highway.

“Unfortunately, we are up against a dictatorship. Nothing is going to change unless we force them,” added Rojas, surrounded by banners saying “Resistance!” and “Maduro, Your Time Is Up!”

Using branches, rocks and garbage, demonstrators blocked the main Francisco Fajardo thoroughfare in Caracas from soon after dawn. Many brought chairs, mats and food to last the day.

There were similar protests in other major cities around the South American nation of 30 million people.

In western Tachira state, some farmers were striking on Monday in solidarity with the protesters. They gave away milk and cheese so it would not go to waste, witnesses said.

The opposition, which commands majority support after years in the shadow of the ruling socialists, is more united than during the last wave of anti-Maduro protests in 2014.

But they have been unable to stop violence in their ranks, with youths hurling stones and petrol bombs, vandalizing property and starting fires when security forces block marches with tear gas, pepper spray and water cannons.

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

At least 39 people have died, including protesters, government sympathizers, bystanders, and security forces, during six weeks of protests. Hundreds have also been hurt and arrested.

The current wave of protests, which have attracted hundreds of thousands of demonstrators on some days, has drawn greater support from the poor – who backed late leader Hugo Chavez massively but have soured on his successor Maduro and who have suffered most from four years of recession. But the main protests have still been taking place in middle class areas.

Maduro, 54, who narrowly won election to replace Chavez in 2013, says he is the victim of an international right-wing conspiracy that has already brought down leftist governments in Brazil, Argentina and Peru in recent years.

As international pressure on him grows, the European Union on Monday became the latest to call for elections in its most outspoken statement yet on the Venezuela crisis.

Authorities thwarted an opposition push for a referendum last year and have also delayed state gubernatorial elections. But Maduro vowed at the weekend the next presidential election, due in late 2018, would go ahead.

“We will thrash them!” he predicted, though pollsters widely foresee defeat for the ruling Socialist Party at any open vote.

The government is also setting up a controversial body called a constituent assembly, with authority to rewrite the constitution and shake up public powers.

Maduro says that is needed to bring peace to Venezuela, but foes view it as a cynical tactic to buy time and create a biased body that could perpetuate the socialists’ rule.

(Additional reporting by Anggy Polanco in San Cristobal, Maria Ramirez in Ciudad Bolivar; Robin Emmott in Brussels; Editing by Frances Kerry)

Turkey says detains 1,000 ‘secret imams’ in police purge

Suspected supporters of the U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen are escorted by plainclothes police officers as they arrive at the police headquarters in Kayseri, Turkey, April 25, 2017. Olcay Duzgun/Dogan News Agency/via REUTERS

By Ece Toksabay

ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish authorities arrested more than 1,000 people on Wednesday they said had secretly infiltrated police forces across the country on behalf of a U.S.-based cleric blamed by the government for a failed coup attempt last July.

The nationwide sweep was one of the largest operations in months against suspected supporters of the cleric, Fethullah Gulen, a former ally of President Tayyip Erdogan who is now accused by the government of trying to topple him by force.

Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said the overnight crackdown targeted a Gulen network “that infiltrated our police force, called ‘secret imams’.

“One thousand and nine secret imams have been detained so far in 72 provinces, and the operation is ongoing,” he told reporters in Ankara.

In the aftermath of the failed July coup, authorities arrested 40,000 people and sacked or suspended 120,000 from a wide range of professions including soldiers, police, teachers and public servants, over alleged links with terrorist groups.

The latest detentions came 10 days after voters narrowly backed plans to expand Erdogan’s already wide powers in a referendum which opposition parties and European election observers said was marred by irregularities.

The referendum bitterly divided Turkey. Erdogan’s critics fear further drift into authoritarianism, with a leader they see as bent on eroding modern Turkey’s democracy and secular foundations.

Erdogan argues that strengthening the presidency will avert instability associated with coalition governments, at a time when Turkey faces multiple challenges including security threats from Islamist and Kurdish militants.

“In Turkey, there was an attempted coup with a goal of toppling the government and destroying the state,” he told Reuters in an interview late on Tuesday.

“We are trying to cleanse members of FETO inside the armed forces, inside the judiciary and inside the police,” he said, using an acronym for the label, Gulenist Terrorist Organisation, which the government has given to Gulen’s supporters.

The president compared the struggle against Gulen with the state’s battle against Islamic State and Kurdish PKK militants, who are designated terrorist organizations by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.

“We are going to keep up the fight in terms of democracy, fundamental rights and liberties, but at the same time we are going to keep up the fight against PKK, FETO and other terrorist organizations such as Daesh (Islamic State),” he said. “We will continue down this path in a very committed fashion.”

Mass detentions immediately after the attempted coup were supported by many Turks, who agreed with Erdogan when he blamed Gulen for orchestrating the putsch which killed 240 people, mostly civilians. But criticism mounted as the arrests widened.

Many relatives of those detained or sacked since July say they have nothing to do with the armed attempt to overthrow the government, and are victims of a purge designed to solidify Erdogan’s control.

(Editing by Dominic Evans and Angus MacSwan)

Opponents seek to annul Turkish vote as Erdogan’s new powers become reality

Anti-government demonstrators light flares during a protest in the Kadikoy district of Istanbul, Turkey, April 17, 2017. REUTERS/Kemal Aslan

By Gulsen Solaker and Tuvan Gumrukcu

ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey’s main opposition began a battle on Tuesday to annul a referendum handing President Tayyip Erdogan sweeping new powers, while the bar association and an international monitor said an illegal move by electoral authorities may have swung the vote.

A defiant Erdogan, whose narrow victory exposed the nation’s deep divisions, has said Sunday’s vote ended all debate on the more powerful presidency he has long sought, and told European observers who criticized it: “talk to the hand”.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, whose job will cease to exist once the constitutional changes take full effect, said Erdogan would be invited to rejoin the ruling AK Party as soon as official results are announced, a sign the government has no intention of waiting to see the outcome of opposition appeals.

Under the outgoing constitution, the president had been required to remain impartial and renounce party political ties.

Few in Turkey expect legal challenges to the referendum to lead to a recount, let alone a re-run. But if unresolved, they will leave deep questions over the legitimacy of a vote which split the electorate down the middle, and whose polarising campaign drew criticism and concern from European allies.

Turkey’s bar association said a last-minute decision by the YSK electoral board to allow unstamped ballots in the referendum was clearly against the law, prevented proper records being kept, and may have impacted the results.

“With this illegal decision, ballot box councils (officials at polling stations) were misled into believing that the use of unstamped ballots was appropriate,” the Union of Turkish Bar Associations (TBB) said in a statement.

“Our regret is not over the outcome of the referendum, but because of the desire to overlook clear and harsh violations of the law that have the potential to impact the results,” it said.

The main opposition People’s Republican Party (CHP), which has said it will take its challenge to the European Court of Human Rights if necessary, said it would present a formal appeal to annul the vote to the YSK later on Tuesday.

CHP deputy chairman Bulent Tezcan said the number of missing votes was “unprecedented”, although the exact number of unstamped ballots was unknown.

YSK Chairman Sadi Guven said on Monday the last-minute decision to allow unstamped ballots was not unprecedented as the government had previously permitted such a move.

The head of the electoral board said it had received many complaints that polling stations didn’t have stamps and made the decision to accept the ballots after an appeal from a ruling AK Party official.

An Austrian member of the Council of Europe observer mission said up to 2.5 million votes could have been manipulated, almost double the margin of Erdogan’s victory, and that the YSK decision on unstamped ballots appeared illegal.

“These complaints are to be taken very seriously and they are, in any case, of such an extent that they would turn around the outcome of the vote,” Alev Korun told ORF radio.

The European Commission, which unlike U.S. President Donald Trump has declined to congratulate Erdogan on Sunday’s vote, called on Turkey to launch a transparent investigation into the alleged irregularities.

“There will be no call to Erdogan from the Commission, certainly not a congratulatory call,” a Western official with knowledge of EU policy told Reuters. “Turkey is sliding towards a semi-authoritarian system under one-man rule”.

“CONSIDERABLE COMPLAINTS”

Election authorities have said preliminary results showed 51.4 percent of voters had backed the biggest overhaul of Turkish politics since the founding of the modern republic, a far narrower margin than Erdogan had been seeking.

Erdogan argues that concentration of power in the presidency is needed to prevent instability. Opponents accuse him of leading a drive toward one-man rule in Turkey, a NATO member that borders Iran, Iraq and Syria and whose stability is of vital importance to the United States and the European Union.

Speaking in parliament on Tuesday, Yildirim said “rumors” of irregularities were a vain effort to cast doubt on the result.

“The people’s will has been reflected at the ballot box, and the debate is over,” he said. “Everyone should respect the outcome, especially the main opposition”.

The YSK said on its website on Sunday, as votes were still being cast, that it had received “considerable complaints” that voters had been given slips and envelopes without official stamps and that it would accept unstamped documents as long as they were not proven to be fraudulent.

The bar association, whose head Metin Feyzioglu is seen as a potential future leader of the opposition CHP, said it had also received phone calls from many provinces about unstamped ballots on Sunday and that its lawyers had advised that records of this should be closely kept once ballot boxes were opened.

But it said that had failed to happen, and that evidence of irregularities had therefore not been properly archived.

On its website, the YSK gave four examples of cases in previous decades where unstamped ballots had been accepted at individual ballot boxes. But those cases only affected several hundred votes and the decision was taken days after the vote and only once the possibility of fraud had been ruled out.

The YSK has also decided to annul elections in the past because of unstamped ballots. It canceled the results of local elections in two districts in southeastern Turkey in April 2014 and re-held them two months later.

And in Sunday’s referendum, the YSK’s overseas election branch had already rejected an appeal by a ruling AK Party official to have unstamped envelopes counted as valid.

YSK officials could not be reached for comment.

(Additional reporting by Ece Toksabay in Ankara, Daren Butler in Istanbul, Shadia Nasralla in Vienna, Robine Emmott and Francesco Guarascio in Brussels; Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Anna Willard)