EU Official: Turkish Government Seemed to Have List of Arrests Prepared

BRUSSELS, (ST)-The swift rounding up of judges and others after a failed coup in Turkey indicated the government had prepared a list beforehand, the EU commissioner dealing with Turkey’s membership bid, Johannes Hahn, said on Monday, according to Reuters.

Following a failed coup attempt on Saturday, Turkish authorities on Sunday rounded up nearly 3,000 suspected “military plotters”, ranging from top commanders to foot soldiers, and the same number of judges and prosecutors.

 “It looks at least as if something has been prepared. The lists are available, which indicates it was prepared and to be used at a certain stage,” Hahn said.

“I’m very concerned. It is exactly what we feared.”

The Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz rejected the Turkish President Recepe Tayyib Erdogan’s announcement of his intention to seek death penalty against “suspects” in the failed coup attempt which took place on Friday. He urged the Turkish government to abide by the country’s laws and judicial system.

Meanwhile, Federica Mogherini, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, urged Erdogan’s government to respect law and warned him against adopting any procedures that harms the constitutional system in the country following the coup attempt.

Hamda Mustafa