Turkish opposition denounces coup try

Some ruling-party members join rally

Supporters of the Republican People’s Party wave Turkish flags during a Republic and Democracy Rally at Taksim Square in central Istanbul on Sunday.
Supporters of the Republican People’s Party wave Turkish flags during a Republic and Democracy Rally at Taksim Square in central Istanbul on Sunday.

ISTANBUL -- Tens of thousands of supporters of Turkey's main opposition group, joined by some ruling-party members, rallied Sunday in Istanbul to denounce a July 15 coup attempt in a rare show of unity.

The flag-waving demonstrators in the city's Taksim Square reflected widespread rejection of the coup attempt in a NATO country that has endured several coups in past decades. Even so, these are tense times in Turkey, which has declared a three-month state of emergency and detained more than 13,000 people in the military, judiciary and other institutions.

Steel barriers were erected around the square to protect the marchers, who entered through security checkpoints. In addition to the violence during the insurrection, Turkey has been hit by deadly bombings and other attacks blamed on the Islamic State group and Kurdish rebels.

The rally was organized by the opposition Republican People's Party, which was close to secularist generals who used to control the military. The party has lost clout since President Recep Tayyip Erdogan came to power more than a decade ago with votes from a Muslim class that was sidelined under Turkey's past secular rulers.

"The coup attempt was done against our democratic, secular, social state, governed by rule of law," Kemal Kilicdaroglu, head of the Republican People's Party, said in a speech.

Kilicdaroglu did not directly criticize Erdogan, though he stressed the importance of a free press and freedom of assembly and the dangers of dictatorship and authoritarianism. The remarks partly echoed his recent criticism that Turkey's state of emergency jeopardizes democracy by granting extra powers to Erdogan.

Despite Turkey's deep political divisions, Istanbul's mayor and other leaders of the ruling Justice and Development Party joined the opposition demonstrators to denounce military intervention in politics.

Posters at the rally proclaimed "No to coups" and "We're standing up for the republic and democracy."

Meanwhile, Turkey's government is setting up an inner cabinet to oversee the implementation of the state of emergency it declared after the botched coup, ramping up the effort to purge the influence of its accused mastermind.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim will chair the council composed of ministers including justice, interior, finance, foreign, education, defense and labor, according to the decision published in Turkey's official gazette.

The state of emergency, and the mechanisms being set up to enforce it, are aimed against U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen. Turkey accuses him of engineering the failed coup. On Saturday, a government decree opened the way for the government to seize assets and close institutions linked to Gulen, who denies involvement in the takeover attempt that left more than 300 dead.

What began as an effort to root out members of the military and security forces directly involved in the coup attempt has been extended to eliminate the Gulen movement's influence from education, academia and the civil service by firing, detaining or suspending tens of thousands of people. Turkey's allies have called for restraint, and financial markets have been rattled by concern that the economy will be hurt by deepened political instability.

Nearly 9,000 soldiers, 2,100 judges and prosecutors, and 1,485 police have been detained in Turkey's post-rebellion crackdown, according to the president. In addition, some 50,000 workers have lost their jobs, suspected of possible ties to the coup plotters.

Erdogan said the government has also closed and seized the assets of 15 universities, 934 other schools, 109 student dormitories, 19 unions, 35 medical institutions as well as more than 1,100 other associations and foundations.

All those institutions are suspected of links to Gulen. Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania, denies any prior knowledge of the plot.

Turkey also said it plans to hire more than 20,000 teachers to replace those who have been fired in a purge of suspected coup plotters. And it has disbanded the presidential guard after already detaining nearly 300 members suspected of plotting against Erdogan, and detained Muhammet Sait Gulen, a nephew of the cleric.

Turkey wants the United States to extradite Gulen. President Barack Obama says the U.S. has an extradition process and has encouraged Turkey to present any evidence it has.

Information for this article was contributed by Christopher Torchia and Cinar Kiper of The Associated Press and by Gregory Viscusi and Constantine Courcoulas of Bloomberg News.

A Section on 07/25/2016

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