07 September 2016•Update: 16 September 2016
NEW YORK
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus lamented the United States’ “slow reaction” to a recent coup attempt that martyred at least 240 people.“Turkey officially does not have, and has not declared, such an assumption that American authorities are behind this putsch attempt.
There is no evidence or clear indication to speak towards that,” Kurtulmus told Turkish media representatives during a day of meetings and speeches in New York City on Tuesday.
“However, the fact that Americans displayed a slow reaction in the wake of the coup attempt caused difficulties for the Turkish people to reconcile this issue with the friendship [between Turkey and the U.S.]. And we shared this without reservations [with American officials.],” he said.
The U.S. waited until a day after the July 15 defeated putsch -- when the outcome had become all but clear -- to make its first comments in support of Turkey’s elected government, and it took even longer for President Barack Obama to address the events.
Vice President Joe Biden visited Turkey two weeks ago, nearly a month and a half after the foiled coup, saying, “I wish I could have been here earlier.”In a speech at Turkey’s consulate general in New York before meeting the media, Kurtulmus called the failed putsch an “unprecedented act of treason”, urging Turks at home and abroad to remain unified.
“The parliament has never been bombed in the history of Turkish Republic,” he said as an example of treason and condemned the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) that Ankara accuses of being behind the overthrow attempt.“They are a religious cult. They acted against Turkish people and their elected government,” he said.
The deputy prime minister said FETO is expected to use wrongful accusations to blacken Turkey in the future, but stressed that Turkish people showed their unity during and after the coup attempt. Although Turkey’s economy was shaken between July 15 and 22, Kurtulmus noted, he emphasized that Turks sold $10 billion in exchange for Turkish liras and $1 billion of foreign direct investment flowed in to Turkey's Istanbul stock exchange during that time.
He emphasized that FETO and putschists planned to polarize political parties in Turkey, but the parties rallied around one common goal.“Turkey will never give up democracy, nor its standards,” he said.
“We are now establishing such a system that no one will never even think about mounting a coup again,” he added.There may be differences among Turkish people, but putting those aside to become a nation is more important, according to Kurtulmus.He concluded by emphasizing that the existence of Muslim and Turkish communities in the U.S. is an opportunity for world peace and strengthening the bilateral relations between Turkey and the U.S.
