President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday said Western countries would have reinstated the death penalty and declared an indefinite state of emergency if they faced the same terror threats and attacks as Turkey in the past months.
Receiving the President of Union of Turkish Bar Associations Metin Feyzioglu and 70 other bar heads in the Presidential Complex in Ankara, Erdogan said: "Set aside the coup attempt, even if terror attacks in the last months by the PKK and Daesh had happened in any European country, they would have brought in the death penalty and an indefinite state of emergency."
He also slammed U.K.-based Amnesty International over its reports of alleged torture against detained coup plotters.
"First they [Amnesty International] have to come here and see what happened in Turkey's parliament, how 53 of our security officers died after our security headquarters was bombed," Erdogan said, adding that numerous people were shot dead on Istanbul’s Bosphorus Bridge and the presidential complex was fired upon on the night of the foiled coup.
"Come and see this, do your part. Then make your statement. Sorry to say, but nobody [will] show respect to you if you just make statements by what you hear," Erdogan said.
Turkish officials have both rejected and condemned claims that suspected coup plotters have been subjected to torture in detention.
The president also criticized Western leaders, without mentioning any names, of worrying more about the condition of putschists rather than the victims of the defeated coup.
"Nobody is asking [about] the situation of our 240 martyrs and 2,195 brothers and sisters who were injured," Erdogan said. "But they are very interested about detentions, arrests and suspensions."
Erdogan said Turkey was a country of law and "will continue to be so".
"On the night of July 15, our judges and prosecutors, along with the people and our security forces, took a stand against the putschists," Erdogan said. "The fight against the coup plotters was carried out within the range of law from the first moment."
FETO ‘working group’
Feyzioglu told reporters his association was ready to "participate actively" to explain FETO internationally.
"If a working group is be established with your [Erdogan's] order to explain the righteous struggle against FETO, the association is more than ready to actively participate in it," said Feyzioglu.
The president of the Turkish Bar Association also said FETO members "may try to gain international community support".
"Gathering 79 million people on common ground is possible under the roof of justice", Feyzioglu said.
"When trust in the justice system is provided, everybody will be proud of being a citizen of the Turkish Republic. Therefore, devious plans will come to nothing."
After talking to press, Erdogan and Feyzioglu -- with his delegation -- held a 90-minute meeting. Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag and the Presidency's Secretary General Fahri Kasirga also present.
The deadly coup attempt began late July 15 when rogue elements of the Turkish military tried to overthrow the country's democratically elected government, martyring 240 people and injuring almost 2,200 others.
The government says the attempted coup was organized by followers of U.S.-based preacher Fetullah Gulen.
Gulen is accused of a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through infiltrating Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary, forming a “parallel state”.
