Fatma Bülbül
03 August 2016•Update: 04 August 2016
ANKARA
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Wednesday urged the EU and Western media to be objective in its news coverage of the deadly July 15 coup attempt in Turkey.
"Be objective and stable, let's be honest," Cavusoglu said at a news conference with Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland in Ankara.
Referring to EU leaders and media outlets, Cavusoglu said: "Until today they supported and encouraged the coup plotters."
Turkey temporarily suspended the European Convention on Human Rights and imposed a three-month state of emergency following the foiled coup, which claimed the lives of more than 230 people and injured at least 2,200 others.
Cavusoglu said he was working in close cooperation with the Council of Europe regarding Turkey's emergency powers.
"We will inform the Council of Europe of the steps taken in Turkey."
According to Article 15 of the convention, a state "may take the measures derogating from its obligations" in circumstances such as war or public emergencies.
"Our aim is to punish those involved in the coup attempt under the law," Cavusoglu said.
Jagland said he condemned the coup attempt "in the strongest way" and congratulated the Turkish people on protecting their democracy.
"The coup attempt was outrageous in all meanings of the world," Jagland said.
"They [coup plotters] were shelling the parliament [and] the democratic institutions of this country," he said. "This coup attempt must be condemned in the strongest way and actually... before midnight [on July 15] I stated clearly that this was unacceptable."
Turkey's government has repeatedly said the coup attempt was organized by the followers of U.S.-based preacher Fetullah Gulen.
Gulen is also accused of implementing a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary, forming what is commonly known as the parallel state.
He has lived in self-imposed exile in the U.S. since 1999 and he is accused of leading the Fetullah Terrorist Organization, or FETO.
*Fatma Bulbul contributed to the story from Istanbul.
