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6000 detained during Turkish authorities’ ‘cleansing’ after failed coup

A Turkish minister said Sunday more than 6,000 people had been arrested and the number would rise.

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The US State Department denied any link to the events, after the Turkish government, a US ally, blamed the coup on an exiled Turkish dissident who has been given sanctuary in the American state of Pennsylvania.

Meanwhile in a travel advisory, the State Department warned U.S. citizens of increased threats from terrorist groups throughout Turkey and to avoid travel to southeastern Turkey.

Bozdag said “the United States would weaken itself by protecting him, it would harm its reputation”.

Mobs in Ankara and Istanbul were seen climbing on tanks and beating soldiers before forces loyal to the government detained those who attempted the coup.

“There are questions that are being asked and we will ask them”, he said, when asked about Turkey’s role in fighting Islamic State forces.

An official told Reuters that “a few important soldiers on the run and being sought” would likely be captured “shortly”, in addition to the 6,000 people already detained.

Only hours before Gulen had suggested that the coup was actually staged by Erdogan to give him an excuse to purge his political opponents.

Yasim Altindel was heading home to Germany on Friday night just as word began to spread of troops and tanks taking over bridges in Istanbul. “We shall rapidly conduct the cleansing operation so that they can not again show the audacity of coming against the will of the people”.

Kulic, the Erdogan supporter in Taksim Square, rejects any talk of the president as an autocrat.

Now out of prison, Sik said the longstanding alliance between Turkey’s two most prominent Islamic leaders – Erdogan and Gulen – had collapsed into a bitter power struggle.

The government declared the situation under control, saying 2,839 people had been rounded up, from foot soldiers to senior officers, including those who formed “the backbone” of the rebellion.

With Ankara-Washington tensions increasing, Turkey had in the wake of the coup shut airspace around Incirlik as a security measure, forcing the United States to stop strikes against jihadists in Syria.

In the global arena, Erdogan recently sought to patch up disputes with Israel and Russian Federation, and to lend stronger support to US -led efforts against the Islamic State group after being accused of tolerating the flow of foreign extremists and weapons from Turkey into Syria.

“The coup plotters, who are members of an illegal structure, have been neutralized as of now and will receive the heaviest punishment permitted by law”, it concluded.

The entire investigation is being led by Ankara prosecutors and those arrested are suspected of belonging to Gulen’s group, which Turkey dubs the “Fethullahci Terror Organisation (FETO)”.

Gulenists at the time said they supported peace but had concerns about the approach, Skinner said.

In his speech, Erdogan said Turkey had been preparing an application seeking extradition with details about Gulen’s involvement in illegal activities.

The Greek government has said it will examine their demand, as prescribed by global law, while taking into account that they are wanted in Turkey and accused of trying to subvert the constitution.

Erdogan and Putin, who were feuding over the shooting down of a Russian jet until last month, will meet in the first week of August, Anadolu said.

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Saturday morning, a Turkish Blackhawk military helicopter landed in Alexandroupolis airport in Greece with eight passengers on board.

Turkish security officers detained police dressed in black as they shut down the Bosphorus Bridge Yasin Akgul  Getty Images