31 diplomats failed to heed post-coup bid recall: FM

By Diyar Guldogan & Satuk Bugra Kutlugun

ANKARA

A total of 31 diplomats have failed to answer recalls to Turkey in the wake of the July 15 defeated coup, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Tuesday.

"Thirty-one people did not come back to Turkey. They fled but our follow-up continues," Cavusoglu told a news conference alongside his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto in Ankara.

Cavusoglu said a total of 332 Foreign Ministry staff had been either recalled from posts around the world or dismissed since the 15 July defeated coup, which left 240 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.

"Up until today, 89 people have removed from our ministry," he added. Cavusoglu said they have been "diligently" working on ferreting out Fetullah Terror Organization (FETO) members.

Turkey blames followers of Fetullah Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania since 1999, and his FETO network for attempting to bring down the elected Turkish government.

For his part, Szijjarto said: "We think that any kind of criticism coming from European Union countries towards the response of the government and the president of Turkey after the coup is very harmful.”

Hungary’s top diplomat also said: “We think that European governments should avoid criticizing Turkey because of the response given to this coup attempt.”

Szijjarto said Ankara’s actions so far after the coup attempt to avoid further attacks are “totally understandable.”

“Whatever you have been doing so far, we respect it and will respect in the future as well," he added.

Szijjarto said Hungary is also investigating the Gulenist movement.

"We have received some information from your services, and our services have already been working on the investigations regarding a private school and people linked to it.

"If the investigations find out that they have a clear relationship to the Gulenist movement and they embody a threat to Hungarian, Turkish, or European security, then we will take the necessary steps, you can be sure," he added.

- The fight against Daesh

Cavusoglu said that recently the terrorist PKK, its Syrian affiliate the PYD, and Daesh had stepped up attacks on Turkey.

Turkey will continue to fight against "these terrorist organizations both at home and abroad," he added.

He said Turkey has put up "the most effective fight" against Daesh so far, adding: "We killed more than 650 terrorists at Bashiqa Camp [about 30 kilometers northeast of Mosul, Iraq] alone.”

"We will continue to make contributions to remove Daesh from neighboring countries," Cavusoglu added.

Turkish officials are blaming Daesh for Saturday's deadly blast on a wedding ceremony in the southeastern Gaziantep province that left 54 people dead.

Cavusoglu said no trilateral meeting is expected Wednesday between Turkey and visiting U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Massoud Barzani, the president of Iraq’s Kurdish Regional Government.