FM Çavuşoğlu: Turkey will do whatever necessary to clear FETÖ elements from state within law

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Wednesday that Turkey must do whatever is necessary to clear all Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) elements from Turkish state institutions and elsewhere, stressing that Turkey will act within the boundaries of the rule of law in the fight. Çavuşoğlu spoke at the plenary session of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) on Oct. 12. Çavuoğlu answering a question raised by a parliamentarian who asked if Turkey has concrete evidence of Fethullah Gülen being behind the July 15 coup attempt.

The foreign minister said that there is no question whatsoever that FETÖ is behind the coup attempt, saying: "We all witnessed the results of the coup attempt that he led. FETÖ is behind the coup attempt. We know that based on thousands of pieces of evidence that we have," he said.

Commenting on the extradition process of Gülen from the U.S., Çavuşoğlu said Turkey has provided legal evidence to the U.S. "We gave legal evidence to our American counterparts. Their experts came to Ankara and spoke with judges, prosecutors and experts. We sent the evidence we filed to the U.S., and we get new evidence every day," he said.

Regarding the state of emergency that was declared after the July 15 coup attempt, Çavuşoğlu underlined that despite fighting various terrorist organizations like the PKK and their Syrian offshoot the Democratic Union Party (PYD), their armed wing the People's Protection Units (YPG) and Daish before the coup attempt, Ankara had managed to avoid declaring a state of emergency prior to the coup attempt but saw no other option in the wake of July 15, noting: "More than 80 percent of our people support the state of emergency [declaration] and we had no other option in the face of this alliance of evil," Çavuşoğlu said. "We have to do whatever is necessary to clear FETÖ elements from our state institutions and anywhere else they have infiltrated," he said, underlining Ankara's determination to fight FETÖ.

"While fighting against this organization, we will act within the boundaries of the rule of law. We act in accordance with our international obligations stemming primarily from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). In that process, we continue to work in close co-operation with the CoE," he concluded.