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Turkey Holds Emergency Security Meeting

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was heading the meeting Wednesday of the council, which is the highest advisory body on security issues.

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Turkey has also blocked access to the WikiLeaks website, its telecoms watchdog said on Wednesday, hours after it leaked thousands of ruling party emails.

Turkey’s High Education Board on Tuesday ordered the resignation of 1,577 deans at all universities, while the Education Ministry has suspended more than 26,000 employees.

The moves are seen as attacks against US -based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who has been accused of masterminding the attempted coup, which resulted in more than 200 people being killed.

The Turkish military has been regularly hitting suspected PKK positions in Iraq since a year ago, but Wednesday’s strikes were the first since the coup attempt.

The Turkish government focused in particular on teachers suspected of backing Friday’s failed uprising, taking steps to revoke the licenses of 21,000 teachers at private schools and sacking or detaining half a dozen university presidents.

“It is ridiculous, irresponsible and false to suggest I had anything to do with the horrific failed coup”, Gulen said.

“I urge the U.S. government to reject any effort to abuse the extradition process to carry out political vendettas”, he said in a statement.

President Tayyip Erdogan blames the network of US -based cleric Fethullah Gulen for Friday night’s attempted coup, in which more than 230 people were killed as soldiers commandeered fighters jets, military helicopters and tanks to try to overthrow the government.

Authorities have rounded up close to 9,000 people – including 115 generals, 350 officers and some 4,800 other military personnel – for alleged involvement in the coup attempt. Erdogan has previously said an “important decision” would be announced after the meeting.

A Turkish parliament security man stands guard next to the broken yellow copper doors laid on the ground at the entrance of the assembly hall at the parliament building which was attacked by the Turkish warplanes during the failed military coup last Friday.

The coup bid has been attributed to disgruntled members of the Turkish army, which has borne the brunt of losses in renewed fighting against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Erdogan’s suggestion that the death penalty could be reinstated has sent shudders through Europe, with the European Union warning such a move would be the nail in the coffin of Turkey’s already embattled bid to join the bloc.

Officials on Wednesday raised the death toll from the violence surrounding the coup attempt to 240 government supporters.

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Seventy-five-year-old Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania but has a network of supporters within Turkey, has condemned the abortive coup and denied any role in it. President Barack Obama pledged US assistance with Turkey’s coup investigation during a call with Mr. Erdogan on Tuesday. Earnest added that a decision on whether to extradite would be made under a longstanding treaty between the two countries.

Sabiha Gökçen International Airport