Gulen has denied involvement in the coup attempt, which left around 270 dead. “That’s why the United States is doing everything we can to support Turkey’s efforts to hold accountable those responsible for this bad tragedy, while ensuring the rule of law is respected”.
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“The rhetoric has been so harsh on the Turkish side”, said Bulent Aliriza, director of the Turkey project at the nonpartisan Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
To that end, the US was seeking further evidence from Turkey to substantiate its claim that Gulen was behind the overthrow attempt.
Gulen, an influential Islamist leader who has written more than 40 books and runs a worldwide network of businesses and schools, has lived in self-imposed exile in the United States since 1999, when he fled Turkey under accusations of extremist Islamist activities.
Earlier, the Azerbaijani Prosecutor General’s Office, the Interior Ministry and State Security Service created a joint operational-investigative group.
The U.S. has not been given evidence on Gulen.
“It is freakish for us that they [the U.S.] have not been convinced, considering the scope of evidence we presented to them”, Yasin Aktay, the deputy chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party, told Al-Jazeera. “There is the Syrian issue as well as Turkish-US relations”, he added. Washington wants to reassure it is constructively cooperating with Ankara. Turkey says those institutions were infiltrated by Gulen’s followers years ago in a bid to take over the state.
Turkey offers the key base of Incirlik for USA operations, while also playing a role in political consultations for the negotiation of a future government in Syria.
For all the tension, most analysts doubt Erdogan will turn his back definitively against the West, since Turkey depends so heavily on trade with Europe and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization military alliance.
It was the deadliest in a string of attacks this year in Turkey committed by the Islamic State or Kurdish separatists.
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On the ground in Syria, the United States military works with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a joint Arab and Kurdish force. This cooperation triggers fears in Ankara that the Kurdish secessionist movement may be emboldened, particularly as a war in southeast Turkey has resurged over the past year. Biden also will meet with Turkey’s prime minister and the speaker of the Grand National Assembly.
