Ultranationalist Homeland Party (VP) Chairman Doğu Perinçek said on Tuesday that his party officials had informed pro-government Yeni Şafak daily about a possible coup attempt a day before the failed putsch on July 15 last year.
Speaking during a press conference at VP İstanbul provincial headquarters, Perinçek said his deputy chairman Atilla Uğur informed Yeni Şafak daily and contacted the government through their channels about the coup attempt.
“We told them to stand tall and the coup attempt will be foiled,” he said and added that several ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputies reached VP officials whether the coup attempt is real or not.
In remarks following the failed coup attempt in last July, Perinçek said that the “secret state, the clandestine organization that the US established in Turkey crashed on the night of July 15 and was cleansed from the judiciary and the military.” According to Perinçek, the Turkish military has returned to its Kemalist origins, and the countries that the US wants to divide should resist it.
Despite ideological differences with AKP and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Perinçek, who is known for pro-Russian and fascist views, openly supports Erdoğan’s purge and witch-hunt against faith-based Gülen movement which AKP and Erdoğan accuse of being behind the failed coup.
In a currently ongoing post-coup purge, over 135,000 people, including thousands within the military, have been purged due to their real or alleged connection to the Gülen movement, according to a statement by the labor minister on Jan. 10. As of Feb. 1, 89,775 people were being held without charge, with an additional 43,885 in pre-trial detention. (turkishminute.com) Feb. 15, 2017
