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| The Grand Turk | ||
| Turkey pledges to adhere to democratic principles, rule of law | ||
| 2016-07-24 | ||
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... will strongly adhere to democratic principles and rule of law, Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek said on Saturday, referring to the government’s crackdown in the aftermath of a failed military coup. "From the very beginning, I wanted to say that despite what has happened a week ago in Turkey, that we will continue to strongly adhere to democratic principles and apply rule of law and not much really has changed. I know there are question marks," he told a meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bankers in the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu. The government’s widening crackdown in the aftermath of a failed military coup has spooked investors, who have dumped the lira currency and sold stocks. Obama denies any US involvement in Turkey coup bid President Barack Obama We're gonna punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us... on Friday denied any US role in Turkey’s failed coup and insisted that an extradition request for a US-based Moslem holy man accused of orchestrating the putsch would have to go through normal channels. Obama, speaking at a news conference, said he told Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in a call earlier this week that the United States had no prior knowledge of the abortive coup. "Any reports that we had any previous knowledge of a coup attempt, that there was any US involvement in it, that we were anything other than entirely supportive of Turkish democracy are completely false, unequivocally false," Obama said. "He (Erdogan) needs to make sure that, not just he but everybody in his government, understands that those reports are completely false," Obama added. "Because when rumors like that start swirling around, that puts our people at risk on the ground in Turkey and it threatens what is a critical alliance and partnership between the United States and Turkey." Reports of US involvement in the coup attempt, which were also denied earlier this week by the US ambassador to Turkey, appear to be partly fueled by the fact that holy man Fethullah Gulen lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains. Erdogan accuses Gulen, a charismatic former ally, of criminal masterminding the plot against him. In a crackdown on Gulen’s suspected followers, more than 60,000 soldiers, police, judges, civil servants and teachers have been suspended, detained or placed under investigation. Gulen has condemned the attempted coup and denied any involvement in it. Obama, reiterating what US officials had said earlier this week, said he told Erdogan his government must first present evidence of Gulen’s alleged complicity in the failed coup. An extradition request would then receive the review required by the Justice Department and other government agencies just like any other petition. "America’s governed by rules of law, and those are not ones that the president of the United States or anybody else can just set aside for the sake of expediency," Obama said. "We’ve got to go through a legal process."
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| Posted by:Fred |
| #3 Democratic principles and rule of law are like a train, you get off once you reach your destination. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2016-07-24 08:23 |
| #2 As in 'Peoples Democratic Republic' type of democratic principles. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2016-07-24 08:13 |
| #1 I pledge to stop smoking and start exercising. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2016-07-24 06:29 |