E.U. and U.S. Urge Erdogan to Show Restraint After Coup Attempt in Turkey

[Purveyor]

BRUSSELS — The United States and the European Union stepped up pressure on Monday on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey to not use an attempted coup as an excuse for an authoritarian crackdown.

Officials even suggested that Turkey’s continued membership in NATO and its aspirations of joining the European Union could be at stake.

Meeting in Brussels, Secretary of State John Kerry and European Union foreign ministers called on Mr. Erdogan to show restraint in the wake of the failed coup, even as he continued to round up political opponents and as Turkey debated whether it should reinstate the death penalty to deal with the plotters.

“Obviously, NATO also has a requirement with respect to democracy, and NATO will indeed measure very carefully what is happening,” Mr. Kerry said. “And my hope is that Turkey is going to move in ways that do respect what they have said to me many times is the bedrock of their country.”

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http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/19/world/europe/eu-turkey-coup-erdogan.html?_r=0

[bemildred]

1. Turkey, US Deadlocked Over Extradition of Alleged Coup-plotter Cleric

The United States and Turkey are deadlocked over Ankara's demand that Washington extradite Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric it is blaming for the attempted military coup in Turkey, even though he has lived in self-imposed exile in the U.S. for 17 years.

So far, the U.S. is balking at the request.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told Turkey on Monday the U.S. needs "genuine evidence that withstands the standard of scrutiny that exists in many countries" before it would consider extraditing the 75-year-old Gulen, who lives in semi-seclusion in the Poconos Mountains in the northeastern state of Pennsylvania.

The top U.S. diplomat said in Brussels that he told Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu "to make certain that in whatever portfolio and request they send us, they send us evidence, not allegations."

http://www.voanews.com/content/turkey-us-deadlocked-extradition-alleged-coup-plotter-gulen-cleric/3423393.html