Turkish opposition figure lashes out at coup plotters

By Alp Ozden

ANKARA

Turkey’s Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli has slammed Friday’s coup plotters, saying there is “no difference between the masterminds of the failed attempted coup and Daesh or the PKK”.

Speaking on Tuesday at a MHP parliamentary group meeting in Ankara, Bahceli said: “An elected government will be only replaced by an elected one. There is no other choice. The coup attempts to overturn the government illegally will lead to a huge malignancy in the country.”

Labeling the putsch leaders hiding in the military for years as “manslayers, forever traitors in the sight of army personnel”, Bahceli added: “The dignity and chastity of democracy is saved. The reaction of the people to the coup attempt at the cost of their lives deserves appreciation.”

In a reference to Pennsylvania-based cleric Fetullah Gulen, Bahceli said: “The Republic of Turkey has been bombarded from overseas; the U.S. should extradite the head of the terror group immediately.”

*Anadolu Agency correspondent Ahmet Sait Akcay contributed to the report from Ankara