Gulen has strongly denied the government’s charges, suggesting the attempted military coup in Turkey could have been staged as a pretext for the Erdogan government to seize even more power. Some high-ranking military officials involved in the plot have fled overseas, he said.
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Gulen, who actively promotes educational institutions in Turkey and other countries, has condemned the coup attempt and rejected any connection to it.
More than 9,000 people are now in detention and are under investigation over the coup, according to Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus.
The agency said Tuesday that the Supreme Board of Radio and Television voted unanimously to revoke permissions for “any radio or television outlet connected with or supportive of” the group linked to USA -based cleric Fetullah Gulen.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was heading the meeting Wednesday of the council, which is the highest advisory body on security issues.
In a news conference in Brussels alongside side Secretary of State John Kerry, Federica Mogherini, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said that Washington and Brussels agreed that as Turkey rounds up suspects it must respect the rule of law and fundamental freedoms in responding to the coup attempt. “I urge the USA government to reject any effort to abuse the extradition process to carry out political vendettas”, he said.
Erdogan said the coup-plotters had him in their sights from the time he landed at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport.
President Tayyip Erdogan and the government accuse Fethullah Gulen of orchestrating an abortive military takeover on Friday in which at least 232 people were killed, and have called in speeches for his extradition from the United States.
Some expressed concern that Erdogan – who said he was nearly killed or captured by the mutineers – was using the opportunity to consolidate power and further a process of stifling dissent.
In comments to reporters Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said the movement of Fethullah Gulen has deviant religious ideology “no different than IS in the slightest”.
In addition, 257 people working at the office of the prime minister were dismissed and the Directorate of Religious Affairs announced it had sacked 492 staff including clerics, preachers and religious teachers.
All of them have been charged with treason and are testifying to prosecutors and judges.
WikiLeaks said it had obtained the e-mails before the coup attempt but had made a decision to release them “in response to the government’s postcoup purges”.
Erdogan’s spokesman said on Tuesday the government was preparing a formal request to the United States for the extradition of Gulen.
Yildirim affirmed that the Turkish government sent four files to the USA asking it to extradite Fathullah Gulen, describing him as the biggest terror.
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White House spokesman Josh Earnest confirmed Ankara had filed materials in electronic form with the US government, which officials were reviewing. Treason – such as that implied by Erdogan’s demand for Gulen’s extradition – is not listed as such an act in the countries’ treaty. He has urged the U.S.to resist Turkey’s efforts to extradite him.
