Turkey jails three senior diplomats for links with failed coup attempt

Turkey on Saturday arrested three former top Turkish diplomats on charges related to the recent failed coup attempt by a section of the military.

The accused included Gurcan Balik, who once served as executive assistant to former Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu as well as foreign policy advisor to the former President Abdullah Gul, reports Xinhua.

The other two were former ambassador to Costa Rica Ali Findik and former ambassador to Canada Tuncay Babali.

Findik and Babali had been removed from their posts for links to the Fethullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), which Turkey accuses, along with its US-based leader, Fethullah Gulen, of masterminding the coup attempt.

The three suspects were sent to jail, pending trial after their testimonies in an Ankara court.

Meanwhile, four municipal mayors from the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) were discharged from the party on Friday due to their ties with the Gulenist, as part of the investigation following the coup attempt.

After the coup, The Turkish Government launched a nationwide crackdown on people linked with the coup and more than 60,000 people in the military, judiciary, civil service and schools were detained, removed or suspended over suspected links with Gulen.

Many were however later released.

Around 237 people were killed and more than 2,100 were wounded during the failed coup which saw a faction of the military commandeered tanks, helicopters and fighter jets attempting to overthrow the government.