Foreign ministers harden stance as concern grows over arrests in Turkey

The US and the European Union toughened their stance against Turkey yesterday as they urged Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan to "not go beyond the rule of law" as he deals with the aftermath of the failed military coup.

Speaking in Brussels where EU foreign ministers gathered for a scheduled meeting, US secretary of state John Kerry urged the Turkish government to "uphold the highest standard of respect . . . for the rule of law. We support bringing the perpetrators of the coup to justice, but we caution a reach that goes beyond that."

Amid deepening tensions between Washington and Ankara over the status of Islamic cleric Fetullah Gülen, whom Mr Erdogan has accused of plotting the coup, Mr Kerry said Turkey must provide "evidence, not allegations" about Mr Gülen's activities for the United States to consider his extradition.

Extradite The Turkish president has called for the US to extradite his former ally who is living in exile in Pennsylvania. “The US has a formal process for dealing with extradition requests,” Mr Kerry said, noting that Ankara had not yet requested the extradition.

In an indication of the diplomatic sensitivities surrounding the Turkish-US relationship the US secretary of state expressed support for Turkey as a fellow Nato member, noting that the country is a "key partner to the EU". "We stand squarely on the side of elected leadership," he said.

As EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels also responded to Friday's events, Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan warned against any moves to reintroduce the death penalty would be in breach of Turkey's EU obligations as an accession country. Freedom "I along with my EU partners call upon the Turkish authorities, police and security to show restraint, and to respect democracy, human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the right to fair trial and specifically in accordance with Turkey's European obligations which preclude the application of the death penalty," he said.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said Turkey's "democratic and legitimate institutions need to be protected". But she added: "This does not mean obviously that the rule of law and the system of checks and balances in the country does not count. On the contrary, it needs to be protected for the sake of the country itself . . . We will send a strong message on that."

While EU and world leaders broadly backed Mr Erdogan’s government in the wake of the failed weekend coup, there is growing unease that a backlash from Erdogan’s government could breach democratic standards, a development which would almost certainly undermine the EU’s promise of visa-free travel for Turkey, a key part of the EU-Turkey migration deal.

In one of the strongest interventions by a senior EU figure, EU commissioner Johannes Hahn, who is responsible for relations with Turkey, suggested that Mr Erdogan had already planned a list of people to be arrested before the coup took place. "It looks at least as if something has been prepared," he said. "The lists are available, which indicates it was prepared and to be used at a certain stage. I'm very concerned. It is exactly what we feared."

Boris Johnson, who attended his first meeting of EU foreign ministers since his appointment as British foreign secretary last week, called for "restraint and moderation on all sides".

Abandoning Mr Johnson, whose arrival in Brussels on Sunday night was delayed for several hours after his plane was forced to make an emergency landing at Luton airport, said Britain would be in no sense leaving Europe, despite last month's decision to leave the European Union. The government must "give effect to the will of the people and leave the European Union," he said. "But that in no sense means that we are leaving Europe. We are not going to be in any way abandoning our leading role in European co-operation and participation of all kinds."

French foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault condemned the failed coup in Turkey, saying that a military coup was not acceptable. But he added “at the same time, we have to be vigilant that the Turkish authorities do not put in place a political system that could derail democracy.