Turkey Rounds Up 6,000 People
Sunday, July 17, 2016
Vol. 5, No. 199
State of Siege: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has demanded that the United States extradite a Muslim cleric who he believes was instrumental in Friday night’s attempted coup. Erdogan blames Fethulla Gulen, a former ally who has lived in Pennsylvania for 15 years. Erdogan said, “You have engaged in enough treason against this nation. If you dare, come back to your country.”
Speaking from the US, Gulen denied involvement and said he doesn’t believe a military coup could bring democracy. He said he doesn’t even know who his followers are anymore.
Four generals have been arrested and the government wants Greece to extradite eight officers who escaped there in a helicopter.
As many as 3,000 members of the military have been detained and 2,745 judges dismissed from their jobs. A total of 6,000 people have been taken into custody. Erdogan was crowing about surviving the coup. He said in front of his home, “the strong aren’t always right, but the right are always strong.” Some reports say the attempt to knock him out has strengthened his popularity in the country.
The Turkish military also ordered a halt to all US fights taking off from Incirlik airport to attack Islamic State targets. It’s the first major impact of the attempted coup on the US.
Black Lives: In Atlanta, a now-discharged Atlanta police officer who shot and killed an unarmed black man has been indicted on murder charges. In Baton Rouge, Alton Sterling, a 37-year-old back man who was the father of five children and sold bootleg, CDs on the street was buried yesterday.
Rio Nyet: Anti-doping authorities from 10 countries and 20 sports associations are preparing to demand that all Russian athletes be banned from the Rio summer Olympics. Russia’s entire track and field team has already been disinvited and a new report is expected to say doping is prevalent in all Russian sports.
According to the NY Times, the chief executive of the national anti-doping trade association wrote in an email that, “It seems very likely that the Report will confirm what will be one of the biggest doping scandals in history, implicating the Russian Government in a massive conspiracy against the clean athletes of the world.”
Virtual Reality: Two teenagers in Florida sitting in a car playing “Pokémon Go” were shot at by a homeowner who thought they were burglars. He heard one of them say, “Did you get anything?” and then he gave them a dose of reality. They weren’t hit.
But Enough About Me: Donald Trump introduced Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as his running mate yesterday, then spent the next 25 minutes praising himself and slamming Hillary Clinton before giving up the microphone to Pence. Trump gabbed on about all his primary wins, building his wall — he stuck in a promotional plug for his new Washington hotel — and he bragged about how he had stopped the “Stop Trump” movement. Then he said, “Back to Mike Pence!”
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