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Aftermath

Arrests and purges

Main article: 2016 Turkish purges

General Akın Öztürk, former Commander of the Turkish Air Force, was accused of being the leader of the coup attempt.

An extensive purge of the Turkish civil service began in the wake of the coup attempt, with President Erdoğan warning his opponents that "they will pay a heavy price for this." The New York Times along with some other Western media such as The Economist, described the purges as a "counter-coup", with the Times expecting the president to "become more vengeful and obsessed with control than ever, exploiting the crisis not just to punish mutinous soldiers but to further quash whatever dissent is left in Turkey,". As of 20 July 2016, the purge already had seen over 45,000 military officials, police officers, judges, governors and civil servants arrested or suspended, including 2,700 judges, 15,000 teachers, and every university dean in the country.

163 generals and admirals were detained, around 45% of the Turkish military's total.

On 18 July 2016, United States State Secretary John Kerry urged Turkish authorities to halt the increasing crackdown on its citizens, indicating that the crackdown was meant to "suppress dissent". French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault voiced concern, warning against a "political system which turns away from democracy" in response to the purges.

On 17 August 2016, Turkey started releasing what was expected to eventually amount to about 38,000 prison inmates, to make more space in the penal system for detainees, numbering about 35,000, who were arrested or detained after being involved in or suspected of association, with the 2016 failed coup.

On 28 September 2016, Turkish justice minister Bekir Bozdağ said 70,000 people had been processed and 32,000 were formally arrested.

Major General Cahit Bakir, who commanded Turkish forces under NATO in Afghanistan, and Brigadier General Sener Topuc, responsible for education and aid in Afghanistan, were detained by authorities in Dubai in connection with the failed coup.

General Akın Öztürk, former Commander of the Turkish Air Force, was the Turkish military attaché to Israel. He was arrested on charges of having played a leading role in the failed coup. Öztürk has denied the charges.

General Adem Huduti, the commander of the Second Army, positioned along the southern borders with Syria and Iraq, and General Erdal Öztürk, the commander of the Third Army, were also arrested.

Rear Admiral Mustafa Zeki Ugurlu, who had been stationed at NATO's Allied Command Transformation in Norfolk, Virginia, sought asylum in the United States after being recalled by the Turkish government.

In July 2018, Court announced life time imprisonment to 72 former soldiers involved in coup attempt.

Turkish government allegations about coup attempt

Allegations against Fethullah Gülen

See also: Fethullah Gülen § Extradition request, U.S.–Turkey tensions

Turkish authorities blamed Fethullah Gülen who condemned the coup attempt and denied any role in it

Fethullah Gülen, whom President Erdoğan had accused as being one of the principal conspirators, vehemently condemned the coup attempt and denied any role in it. "I condemn, in the strongest terms, the attempted military coup in Turkey," he said in an emailed statement reported by The New York Times. "Government should be won through a process of free and fair elections, not force. I pray to God for Turkey, for Turkish citizens and for all those currently in Turkey that this situation is resolved peacefully and quickly. As someone who suffered under multiple military coups during the past five decades, it is especially insulting to be accused of having any link to such an attempt. I categorically deny such accusations."

President Erdoğan asked the United States to extradite Gülen: "I call on you again, after there was a coup attempt. Extradite this man in Pennsylvania to Turkey! If we are strategic partners or model partners, do what is necessary." Prime Minister Yildirim has threatened war against any country that would support Gülen. Turkish Labor Minister Süleyman Soylu claimed that "America is behind the coup."

Regarding the AKP's allegations against Gülen, Secretary of State Kerry invited the Turkish government "to present us with any legitimate evidence that withstands scrutiny," before they would accept an extradition request.

On 15 August 2016, former United States diplomat James Jeffrey, who was the United States ambassador to Turkey from 2008 until 2010 made the following remarks: "The Gülen movement has some infiltration at the least in the military that I am aware of. They of course had extreme infiltration into the police and judiciary earlier. I saw that when I was in Turkey previously, particularly in the Sledgehammer case, Hakan Fidan case, and the corruption cases in 2013. It is very clear that significant segment of the bureaucracy in Turkey were infiltrated and had their allegiance to a movement. That of course is absolutely unacceptable and extremely dangerous. It is highly likely that it led to the coup attempt."

Outside Turkey, in Beringen, Belgium, anti-coup protesters attempted to attack a building owned by the pro-Gülen movement group 'Vuslat'. The police brought in a water cannon to keep the attackers at bay. In news articles it was stated that the police also protected the houses of Gülen supporters. People advocated on social media to go to Beringen once more, and there was unrest in Heusden-Zolder, elsewhere in Belgium. Furthermore, in Somalia the government ordered "the total closure of all activities" of an organization linked to the Gülen movement, and gave its staff seven days to leave the country.

On 2 August 2016, President Erdoğan accused Western countries of "supporting terrorism" and a military coup, saying "I'm calling on the United States: what kind of strategic partners are we, that you can still host someone whose extradition I have asked for?"

Allegations against the U.S. and the West, and U.S. response

General Erdal Öztürk (left), shown here with U.S. Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, right, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has been arrested over alleged involvement in a coup attempt.

In a speech on 29 July 2016, President Erdoğan accused U.S. Central Command chief Joseph Votel of "siding with coup plotters"; Erdoğan accused the United States of protecting Fethullah Gülen, whom the Turkish government blames for the coup attempt. Turkish Prime Minister Binaldi Yildirim made similar comments. In response, Votel said that the Turkish government's claims were "unfortunate and completely inaccurate" and expressed concern that the mass arrests and firings of military officers would damage military cooperation between the U.S. and Turkey. Similarly, U.S. Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper said that the Turkish military purges were impairing the fight against ISIS.

On 2 August 2016, in an escalation of tensions with the United States, Erdoğan questioned Turkey's relationship with the United States and criticized the West, claiming that "script" for the abortive putsch last month was "written abroad". Erdoğan stated that he had personally asked Obama to extradite Gülen to Turkey. When the U.S. government replied it would need evidence of the cleric's guilt before extradition, to which Erdoğan said: "When you asked for the return of a terrorist, we did not ask for documentation... Let us put him on trial."

Yeni Şafak daily, a Turkish pro-government newspaper, claimed that the former commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, now-retired United States Army General John F. Campbell, was the "mastermind" behind the coup attempt in Turkey. Campbell called the claim "absolutely ridiculous" and President Obama said "Any reports that we had any previous knowledge of a coup attempt, that there was any U.S. involvement in it, that we were anything other than entirely supportive of Turkish democracy are completely false, unequivocally false."

On 1 December 2017, Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's office issued arrest warrant for American political analyst, former CIA official and former vice chairman of US National Intelligence Council Graham Fuller, alleging his involvement in the coup. A career US States Department official who was once CIA Station Chief in Kabul and later went on to be a political scientist in Rand Corporation specializing in the Middle East, Fuller was accused by the Turkish authorities to have attended a meeting in Istanbul on 15 July 2016 involving organization and coordination of the botched coup. Another American among the attendance, as alleged by the Turkish prosecutors, was academic Henri Barkey who was named a suspect a week after the failed coup.

Incirlik Air Base

Incirlik Air Base in December 2016

The U.S. consulate in Turkey issued an advisory to U.S citizens to avoid the Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey, which houses about 50 nuclear bombs, until "normal operations have been restored". They stated that local authorities were denying access to the air base and that power supplying the air base was shut off.

The Incirlik base is important to the U.S.-led effort in Syria to combat ISIL and other militants. Nearly 1,500 American personnel are housed in the base.

Twenty-four hours after initial reports that the air base was shut down, United States defense department officials confirmed that the base and its airspace had re-opened to military aircraft and that operations by American aircraft will resume. The Turkish commander of the air base was arrested.

Following the failed coup attempt multiple media outlets have published editorials advocating the removal of U.S. nuclear weapons from Incirlik Air base as Turkey is unstable.

Social unrest

On 16 July, anti-coup protesters chanted against locals in areas of Istanbul with high concentration of Alevis, including Okmeydanı and Gazi. Such incidents also occurred in a quarter of Antakya with a high Alevi population, where a motorcyclist claiming to be a sharia advocate was lynched. In a neighbourhood of Ankara, shops belonging to Syrians were attacked by a mob. In Malatya, Sunni Islamists harassed residents of an Alevi neighbourhood, particularly the women, and attempted to enter the neighbourhood en masse. Police intervened and blocked all roads leading there. In Kadıköy, people drinking alcohol in public were attacked by a group of religious fundamentalists.

Calls to reintroduce the death penalty

See also: Capital punishment in Turkey

Following the arrests, thousands of anti-coup protesters demanded instituting the death penalty against detainees connected with the coup, chanting "we want the death penalty". President Erdoğan has been open to reinstituting the death penalty, noting that "in a democracy, whatever the people want they will get." Turkish authorities have not executed anyone since 1984, but legally abolished capital punishment only in 2004 as a pre-condition to join the European Union.

European Union officials have been vocal about their opposition to purges by Turkish authorities in connection to the coup. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault noted that Turkey must work within the framework of the law to uphold Europe's democratic principles. Furthermore, on 18 July 2016, Federica Mogherini, the High Representative of Foreign Affairs of the European Union, announced that no country will be admitted into the European Union "if it introduces the death penalty". Moreover, German press secretary, Steffen Seibert, stated that reinstituting the death penalty will end Turkey's accession talks with the European Union.

Turkey is a member of the Council of Europe, and ratified the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) as part of its terms of membership. The ECHR is an international treaty that includes the abolition of the death penalty among its terms. As such, Turkey is legally bound not to reintroduce the death penalty.

State of emergency

U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter inspects damage to the Grand National Assembly during a visit to Ankara on 21 October 2016.

On 20 July 2016, President Erdoğan announced a three-month state of emergency in response to the attempted coup, invoking Article 120 of the Constitution of Turkey ("Declaration of state of emergency because of widespread acts of violence and serious deterioration of public order"). Under the state of emergency, under Article 121, "the Council of Ministers, meeting under the chairpersonship of the President of the Republic, may issue decrees having the force of law on matters necessitated by the state of emergency..." with decrees subject to subsequent parliamentary approval. The state of emergency was endorsed by the Parliament on 21 July by 346 votes to 115. The Justice and Development Party and the Nationalist Movement Party supported the state of emergency, whilst the Republican People's Party and the Peoples' Democratic Party opposed it. Prime Minister Yıldırım said at the Parliament that the state of emergency was necessary to "get rid of this scourge rapidly".

As part of the state of emergency, deputy prime minister Kurtulmuş announced that Turkey was temporarily suspending part of the European Convention on Human Rights following the attempted coup, invoking Article 15 of the Convention ("war or other public emergency threatening the life of the nation"). The suspensions must be notified to the Council of Europe and may not affect the right to a fair trial or the prohibition on torture.

State of emergency extension

On 3 October 2016 Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş declared the governments intention to extend the state of emergency by a further three months raising objections from both the Republican People's Party (CHP) and Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) were critical of the governments use of their emergency powers and declared that they would vote against an extension.

Following the National Security Council's recommendation for the extension President Erdoğan stated that it was possible that the state of emergency could last for longer than a year prompting outcry from the opposition, Leader of the Main Opposition Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said that "The president saying that the state of emergency can last longer than 12 months is strengthening the fear of a counter-coup" and that it was "raising the prospect of opportunist measures."

The AKP's governmental majority allowed the three-month extension to take effect on 19 October 2016. The two-year-long state of emergency has ended on 19 July 2018.

Turkish military personnel and diplomats asylum bids

Applications for asylum in Greece

See also: July 2016 Turkish military asylum incident in Greece

On 16 July 2016, the media reported that eight Turkish military personnel of various ranks had landed in Greece′s northeastern city of Alexandroupolis on board the Black Hawk helicopter and claimed political asylum in Greece. While The Turkish foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu demanded extradition of "the eight traitors as soon as possible", the Greek authorities stated: "We will follow the procedures of international law. However, we give very serious considerations to the fact that [the Turkish military men] are accused, in their own country, of violating the constitutional order and trying to overthrow democracy." The helicopter was returned to Turkey shortly thereafter. The eight asylum seekers, their asylum case pending, were later transferred to Athens, mainly for safety reasons. On 26 January, the Supreme Court of Greece eventually ruled against their extradition, on the grounds that the eight were unlikely to face a fair trial if returned to their home country and due to concerns over their safety.

On 15 February 2017, five Turkish commandos have illegally entered Greece through the Evros river. However, once they entered the country, the group split. The two of them surrendered to the police and on 20 February 2017, requested political asylum. They were being held in the city of Alexandroupolis. The two men belonged to the Turkish navy, and the names given by the two reportedly match the names of two fugitives wanted in relation to the shadowy operation against Erdoğan himself. The Greek government mentioned that the Greek authorities will not allow the country to be dragged into the ongoing feud between the Turkish state and the followers of Gulen. But there were no sign of the other three. According to a lawyer there were indications that the other three have been arrested by Greek authorities who were about to expel them to Turkey. Later, according to new evidences and new information these three “arrested” marines were delivered under fast and informal procedures from Greek to Turkish services.

Turkish attachés sortie from Greece to Italy

After the coup attempt, two Turkish military attaches in Athens, Staff Col. İlhan Yaşıtlı and naval attache Col. Halis Tunç, had reportedly disappeared along with their families. The Greek foreign ministry cancelled the two attaches’ accreditations on 7 August 2016, upon the request of the Turkish foreign ministry. Greek media reported that they might have fled to Italy. On 11 August 2016, the Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu confirmed the reports saying that they had left Greece for Italy on 6 August and adding that Turkey would officially ask the Italian authorities to extradite the two soldiers.

Rear admiral's U.S. asylum application

On 9 August 2016, the media reported that Turkey's Rear Admiral Mustafa Zeki Ugurlu, who had been on a United States-based assignment for NATO and after the coup was subject to a detention order in Turkey, had sought asylum in the United States.

Asylum bids in Germany and Belgium

In mid-November 2016, it was officially confirmed that about 40 Turkish military servicemen of various ranks stationed at NATO command structures had applied for asylum in Germany and Belgium.

In January 2017, Der Spiegel magazine and ARD broadcaster reported that about 40 mostly high-ranking Turkish soldiers who worked at NATO facilities in Germany requested asylum in Germany.

At the end of February 2017, Germany said it had received 136 asylum requests from Turks holding diplomatic passports since the July coup attempt, the figure being a total for the period August 2016 to January 2017; some were presumed to be military officers posted to Nato bases in Germany.

Asylum bids in NATO countries

In November 2016, NATO's secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said that Turkish NATO Officers had requested asylum in the countries where they had been posted. He did not name the nations involved or the number of officers, saying it was a matter for those countries to decide. He said: "Some Turkish officers working in NATO command structure … have requested asylum in the countries where they are working. ... As always, this is an issue that is going to be assessed and decided by the different NATO allies as a national issue."

As of March 2017, Norway have granted asylum for four Turkish soldiers and a military attache.

Diplomats asylum bids

Several Turkish citizens with diplomatic passports have sought political asylum in Switzerland.

Torture allegations

According to Amnesty International, detainees in Turkey have been denied access to legal counsel, have been beaten and tortured, and have not been provided with adequate food, water, or medical care. At least one has attempted suicide. Amnesty International wanted the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture to send people to check on detainees conditions. A person who had been on duty at the Ankara police headquarters claimed that police denied medical treatment to a detainee. "Let him die. We will say he came to us dead," the witness quoted a police doctor as saying.

Also, Erdoğan has extended the maximum period of detention for suspects from four days to 30, a move Amnesty said increased the risk of torture or other maltreatment of detainees.

Turkish Justice Ministry denied the allegations and the Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ said on his Twitter account: "There has not been any torture or assault of detainees in custody," in response to allegations by Amnesty International. "The claims of torture and assault make up a pre-packaged misinformation campaign formed by members of FETÖ, one which is untrue and distorted,"

Anti-coup rally

On 7 August, more than a million people gathered for an anti-coup rally organized by the Turkish authorities in Istanbul. President Erdoğan and the two leaders of the opposition parties (CHP and MHP) were present.

Greece: Change in migration and asylum seeking

Increase regarding Greek islands

Greek authorities on a number of Aegean islands have called for emergency measures to curtail a growing flow of refugees from Turkey; the number of migrants and refugees willing to make the journey across the Aegean has increased noticeably after the failed coup. At Athens officials voiced worries because Turkish monitors overseeing the deal in Greece had been abruptly pulled out after the failed coup without being replaced. Also, the mayor of Kos expressed concern in a letter to the Greek Prime Minister citing the growing influx of refugees and migrants after the failed coup. The Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (SETE) warned about the prospect of another flare-up in the refugee/migrant crisis due to the Turkish political instability.

Vincent Cochetel, the director of the Europe Bureau of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said in August 2016 that parts of the EU-Turkey deal about immigration were already de facto suspended because no Turkish police were present at Greek detention centres to oversee deportations.

Turkish civilians

On 25 August 2016, seven Turkish citizens were seeking asylum in Greece. A couple, both of whom are university professors, and their two children applied for asylum in Alexandroupoli after they illegally entered the country from the northeastern border. Also, three businessmen have illegally reached the Greek island of Rhodes, and they also applied for asylum.

On 30 August 2016, a Turkish judge arrived to the Greek island of Chios on a migrant boat, along with six Syrian nationals, and sought asylum in the country. He told the Greek coast guard and police officers that he is being persecuted in Turkey for his political beliefs by the government of President Tayyip Erdoğan. The Turkish judge had been arrested for illegally entering the country and, also, he transferred to Athens for his asylum proceedings. The Syrian nationals claimed refugee status.

On 11 September 2016, four Turkish civilians were arrested by Turkish police. An academic and a teacher because they attempted to escape to Greece illegally by crossing the Evros river, and other two because they organized the escape attempt. The academic and the teacher paid a total of 12,500 euros in Istanbul to arrange their escape to Greece. Before their attempt both the academic and the teacher were suspended from their duties as part of the ongoing probe into the failed coup attempt. Police also seized an air raft, an oar and a pump while detaining the suspects. The court later ordered the release of the two while the other two suspects, who organized the escape attempt, were arrested.

On 21 September 2016, ten Turkish civilians, two men, two women and six children landed by boat illegally on the Greek island of Rhodes and sought asylum. They told to the Greek authorities they were working in the private sector in Turkey and they were being persecuted by the Turkish government due to their political beliefs.

On 29 September 2016, five Turkish nationals, a couple and their child and two other men, arrived in Greece, at Alexandroupolis by crossing the Evros River by boat illegally and requested political asylum.

On 12 December 2016, one female Turkish national, landed by boat, which was full with refugees and immigrants, illegally on the Greek island of Lesbos. She requested political asylum.

On 24 October 2017, Turkish authorities obtained information that 995 Turks have applied for asylum in Greece after the coup attempt.

More than 1,800 Turkish citizens requested asylum in Greece in 2017.

On 18 February 2018, seventeen Turkish nationals, including six children, have requested asylum in Greece at Oinousses island.

In August 2018, the former lawmaker for the Peopless Democratic Party, Leyla Birlik, requested asylum in Greece after illegally crossing the border near Alexandroupolis.

Germany—and Turkish factions within

German-Turkish journalist Deniz Yücel was imprisoned for espionage in February 2017

Berlin mayor, Michael Müller (SPD), accused Turkey of waging war on supporters of the Gülen movement in Germany. He said that Turkish officials had approached him and asked him whether he would be prepared to critically confront the Gülen movement in Berlin and, if necessary, to support measures against it. The mayor rejected the idea and made it very clear that Turkish conflicts could not be waged in the city.

Spiegel presented classified documents, which showed that Turkey's secret service (MIT) had asked Germany's foreign intelligence agency (BND) for help in rounding up Gülen supporters in Germany. The Turkish secret service wanted the BND to use its influence to spur German lawmakers into taking action against Gülen supporters and extraditing them to Turkey. Also, Turkey's government has sent German authorities requests for searches and extraditions linked to supporters of Fethullah Gülen in Germany.

In Germany businesses thought to be in support of the Gülen movement have been harassed by Erdoğan supporters.

After the failed coup, there was a massive demonstration in Cologne at Germany, in late July, in support of Turkish President Erdoğan. Erdoğan wanted to address the participants via video but was rejected by the local authorities and the German Constitutional Court due to security concerns. Turkey said that the ban was unacceptable and a violation of freedom of expression.

German authorities accused Turkish mosques in Germany of playing Turkish politics and worried that Turkey's internal politics are spilling over into German cities. For years, German authorities had encouraged Turkey's state-run religious institution Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs usually referred to as DİTİB to provide Islamic preachers and teachers and Gülen Movement Schools for the large Turkish diaspora in Germany. DİTİB manages some 900 mosques in Germany. Gülen movement runs 100 educational facilities in Germany.

After the failed coup DİTİB published a sermon praising “our noble nation” for rising up against “a wretched network” that had sown “seeds of sedition, rebellion and hostility.” According to Volker Beck, a member of the center-left Greens in Germany's Bundestag, “That was not a religious text. It was a declaration of obedience to Mr. Erdoğan and his measures since the coup attempt,” Volker Kauder, parliamentary group leader of the Germany's ruling Christian Democrats, the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU)/Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU) faction, said Turkish-Germans should be loyal to Germany first and foremost.

Solidarity Recital for Deniz Yücel which took place in the Frankfurt, 21 May 2017

Germans of Turkish origin are being pressured in Germany by informers and officers of Turkey's MIT spy agency. According to reports Turkey had 6,000 informants plus MIT officers in Germany who were putting pressure on "German Turks". Hans-Christian Ströbele told that there was an "unbelievable" level of "secret activities" in Germany by Turkey's MIT agency. According to Erich Schmidt-Eenboom, not even the former communist East German Stasi secret police had managed to run such a large "army of agents" in the former West Germany: "Here, it's not just about intelligence gathering, but increasingly about intelligence service repression."

German lawmakers have called for an investigation, charging that Turkey is spying on suspected Gulen followers in Germany. Many people who were spied upon were German citizens.

Turkish civilians Asylum bids

Germany's Office for Migration and Refugees said on 18 November 2016, it had received 4,437 political asylum requests from Turkish citizens up to October, compared to 1,767 for the whole of last year. "We must expect that the number of Turks who are seeking political asylum in Germany will continue to rise," said Stephan Mayer, the domestic policy speaker of the union coalition in the Bundestag.

On 10 December 2016, eleven Turkish nationals, 10 adults and one child, in a martial arts group have applied for asylum in Germany.

As of January 2018, Germany was first place and Greece second as EU destinations of choice for Turkish nationals requesting asylum after the coup attempt.

Companies raided

Turkish police have carried out simultaneous raids in 18 cities against companies associated with United States-based Fethullah Gülen. The state-run Anadolu Agency said police searched 204 premises and detained 187 businessmen for "membership in a terror organization" and "providing financial support to a terror organization". All suspects' assets were seized.

WikiLeaks

WikiLeaks released Turkish emails and documents as a response to the Turkish government's purges that followed the coup attempt. In turn, the Turkish Telecommunications Communications Board blocked access to the WikiLeaks website. On 17 July 2016 Wikileaks had announced on Twitter, the leak of approximately 300,000 emails and over 500,000 documents, including those to and from AKP.

WikiLeaks claimed that it was attacked shortly after 17 July announcement of the planned publication and hypothesised that Turkish authorities were responsible. WikiLeaks stated in a tweet, "our infrastructure is under sustained attack." Tweets from WikiLeaks include "We are unsure of the true origin of the attack. The timing suggests a Turkish state power faction or its allies. We will prevail & publish." and: "Turks will likely be censored to prevent them reading our pending release of 100k+ docs on politics leading up to the coup.", "We ask that Turks are ready with censorship bypassing systems such as TorBrowser and uTorrent"; "And that everyone else is ready to help them bypass censorship and push our links through the censorship to come."

Upon the release of the email dump, it has been noted that the emails contain little to no damning information, and instead are just mails from a public mailing list, but also linked externally to "voter information on all of the women registered to vote in 78 out of Turkey's 81 provinces".

Renamed places

Several places were renamed to commemorate the failed coup:

• Boğaziçi Köprüsü (Bosphorus Bridge) → 15 Temmuz Şehitler Köprüsü
• Kızılay Meydanı → 15 Temmuz Kızılay Demokrasi Meydanı
• Ahmet Taner Kışlalı Meydanı → 15 Temmuz Milli İrade Meydanı (Reverted to original name a few days later)
• Büyük İstanbul Otogarı → İstanbul 15 Temmuz Demokrasi Otogarı
• In TRT, Yeni Haber Stüdyosu → 15 Temmuz Millet Stüdyosu
• Akıncı Air Base → Mürted Air Base
• Kazan → Kahramankazan
• Niğde University → Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University

In 2018, the Istanbul Municipal Council has decided to change the names of a total of 90 streets that included words, which could be associated with FETÖ.

Restrictions on funeral services for coupists

The Presidency of Religious Affairs stated that it would not be providing religious funeral services to the dead coupists, except for "privates and low-ranking officers compelled by force and threats who found themselves in the midst of the conflict without full knowledge of anything".

Accusations of spying

A document dated 26 September 2016 showed that Turkey's Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) asked Turkish missions and religious representatives abroad to profile Gülen movement expatriates living in their respective foreign countries. Gülen-linked schools, businesses, foundations, associations, media outlets and others were also included in the reports. Turkey's Directorate of Religious Affairs has gathered intelligence via imams from 38 countries.

Belgium officials said they would withdraw recognition of Diyanet mosques in the country if necessary.

German lawmakers have called for an investigation, charging that Turkey is spying on suspected Gulen followers in Germany.

On 21 December 2016, the Turkish government has recalled Yusuf Acar, the religious affairs attaché of the Turkish Embassy in the Netherlands, after Dutch authorities accused him of spying. Acar collected information of people who sympathize with Fethullah Gülen at Netherlands and passed it on to the Turkish authorities. The Dutch government called spying activities an “unwanted and non-acceptable interference in the lives of Dutch citizens.” and the attaché was reportedly declared “persona non grata” and received a “deportation warning” by Dutch authorities.

Requests for help from other countries

On 26 January 2017, President Erdoğan, during his visit to Tanzania, asked his Tanzanian counterpart John Magufuli to take action against the network of Fethullah Gülen.

Museum

In April 2017 it was announced that President Erdoğan planned to establish a purpose-built museum dedicated to the coup events, called the "Museum of the 15 July: Martyrs and Democracy", to be located in Kahramankazan, a town near Ankara. Paid for by Turkish Ministry of Culture funds, it is planned to open at the end of 2018.