Turkish president Erdoğan blasts defeated coup plotters

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Friday said that the defeated coup attempt was staged by 'subcontractors bought for just one dollar'.

"The brutal and evil attitude of the coup plotter towards the nation clearly revealed their intentions", Erdoğan said at a ceremony regarding July 15 human rights violations held at Ankara Chamber of Commerce (ATO) Congresium.

"He (Fetullah Gulen) says 'I will go to Turkey if the U.S. lets me. You know what the consequences will be if you arrive. You do not have the heart to do so", he said.

"If Turkey was not a state of law or the country was not looking out for justice, the tens of thousands of traitors would have been lying in randomly opened pits and not in jails", he added.

Erdoğan said that 250 citizens lost their lives that night, while on the other hand "only 35"coup plotters were killed.

The Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gülen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 250 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.

Ankara also accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.