PRESS RELEASE FROM THE EMBASSY OF THE REPUBLIC OF TURKEY

The situation unfolded in Turkey was a coup attempt to overthrow the democratically-elected Government. This attempt was foiled by the Turkish people in unity and solidarity. Turkish Armed Forces was not involved in the coup attempt in its entirety. It was conducted by a clique within the Armed Forces and received a well-deserved response from our Nation.

Life in Turkey returned to normal on 16 July 2016. Our President and Government are in charge.

The Turkish Grand National Assembly held an extraordinary meeting, where a joint declaration condemning the coup attempt in the strongest terms was issued by a unanimous vote (the joint declaration may be reached athttps://global.tbmm.gov.tr/index.php/EN/yd/haber_detay/1248.)

In the context of the ongoing measures for public order and security, a nation-wide State of Emergency was declared in Turkey as from 21 July 2016 in accordance with our Constitution and in full observance of European Convention of Human Rights.

State of emergency is a measure permissible under international law taken by many states when there is an imminent threat to its security and order, as it is the case with France who has recently extendedthe nation-wide state of emergencyfor another six months. It is evident that Turkey has faced serious and multi-dimensional security threats since 15 July 2016.

The state of emergency will not affect fundamental rights and freedoms of our citizens. On the contrary, it is a nation-wide measure taken for the efficient protection of the constitutional order as well as fundamental rights and freedoms. Utmost importance is duly being shown to this end.

Democratic structure of the state will be protected and the rule of law will continue to be upheld.

The Turkish Government will take all the necessary steps for the punishment of the clique which performed the coup attempt. It is clear that the coup attempt was perpetrated by the FETÖ terrorist organization. The attempt showed the true colour of the FETÖ terrorist organization and its leader Fethullah Gülen, who lives in the USA.

Indeed, quite a few resources point to the fact that Gülen and his terrorist organization started to enrol their members at the State positions many years ago, when they also started the planning of the coup attempt (Please see, among many others, one of Gülen’s speeches athttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blGA11LYSDk, where he makes such intention, movement and planning clear).

As a matter of fact, more and more suspects of the coup attempt confess their involvement in the activities of this terrorist organization and its heinous coup attempt.

There are a number of schools in Indonesia, which are linked to this terrorist organization. According to the Indonesian officials, their umbrella organization in Indonesia, i.e. PASİAD has been shut down on 1 November 2015. As the Embassy, we have for long been expressing our concerns on the activities of the FETÖ terrorist organization here in Indonesia to top Indonesian officials.

Below is the list of education facilities in Indonesia, which are linked to the FETÖ terrorist organization, which are operating:

1) Pribadi Bilingual Boarding School, Depok

2) Pribadi Bilingual Boarding School, Bandung

3) Kharisma Bangsa Bilingual Boarding School, Tangerang Selatan

4) Semesta Bilingual Boarding School, Semarang

5) Kesatuan Bangsa Bilingual Boarding School, Jogjakarta

6) Sragen Bilingual Boarding School, Sragen

7) Fatih Boy’s School, Aceh

8) Fatih Girl’s School, Aceh

9) Banua Bilingual Boarding School, Kalimantan Selatan

Please kindly note that, according to the information we received from the Indonesian Ministry of Religious Affairs, the Ministry has sent an official letter to State Islamic University (UIN) Jakarta in Ciputat, South Jakarta

and ordered the closure of their Gülen lectern sometime ago.

It is noteworthy to state that after the coup attempt perpetrated by the FETÖ terrorist organization, a number of countries decided to shut down the schools, affiliated to it. Among these are Jordan, Azerbaijan, Somalia and Niger. Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus authorities decided to list PDY/FETÖ as a terrorist organization. We appreciate the true solidarity of these countries.

Turkey and Indonesia have traditionally been enjoying friendly relations based on historical and cultural affinities. We cooperate at several regional and multilateral platforms such as the UN, Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), Developing-8 (D-8), G-20 and MIKTA. The relations between Turkey and Indonesia were elevated to the level of Strategic Partnership in 2011. As a strategic partner, we expect and count on the support of the brotherly and friendly people of Indonesia and the Esteemed Indonesian Government in our fight against the FETÖ terrorist organization.