Claims that alleged coup plotters have been tortured and abused in detention in Turkey are "baseless and do not reflect the truth", the Turkish ambassador to Ireland has said.
Amnesty International has reported it has "credible evidence" of the mistreatment and torture of individuals accused of involvement in the failed uprising. The group claims detainees have been denied food, water and medical treatment, and have been verbally abused and threatened. It also alleges that some have been subjected to severe beatings and torture, including rape.
At a media briefing in Dublin on Thursday, Ambassador Necip Egüz denied the allegations, saying they had been refuted by the justice ministry in Ankara. Mr Egüz said all detainees were examined by doctors upon their arrest and that places of detention were inspected by national and international institutions. "Allegations of torture against detainees are baseless and do not reflect the truth. The law of the land is in force, and these allegations do not reflect the truth," he said.
Asked about images that apparently showed detainees with bruises and black eyes, Mr Egüz said he believed that during the apprehension of suspects, there had been “some resistance”.
Gülen accused
Turkey accuses US-based cleric Fethullah Gülen of masterminding the coup and has suspended or placed under investigation tens of thousands of his suspected followers, including soldiers, judges and academics. CNN Türk has reported that more than 15,000 people, including about 10,000 soldiers, have been detained so far over the coup, citing the interior minister. Of those, more than 8,000 were formally arrested pending trial, it said.
Mr Egüz characterised Mr Gulen’s followers as a sophisticated terrorist organisation that ran “cells” in Turkey and elsewhere and controlled a number of newspapers, banks and television stations. Its members had “infiltrated” the public sector in Turkey and now had to be rooted out.
Asked how the authorities could identify more than 60,000 alleged coup plotters or sympathisers within days of the botched coup, Mr Egüz said: “In the last years, these people were more or less known. That’s why it wasn’t so difficult to identify them.”
Mr Egüz reiterated Ankara’s call for the US to extradite Mr Gülen, saying a positive response to Turkey’s request was “crucial for the future of our relations.”
Turkey's western allies have expressed concern that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is using the backlash against the coup plotters to stifle dissent and consolidate his power. Mr Egüz defended the declaration of a three-month state of emergency, saying it would not affect citizens' fundamental rights or freedoms. He pointed out that France had introduced its own state of emergency after the terrorist attacks in Paris last November, and had recently extended it.
Asked if he was surprised that no foreign leaders visited Turkey to show solidarity with Mr Erdogan in the days after the coup, Mr Egüz said: “We would have liked them [to have visited]. But at the same time, we had statements from various leaders denouncing the coup.”
