Turkey has sacked or suspended some 80,000 people from the civil service, judiciary, police and courts following the attempted putsch, which it blames on followers of the US -based cleric Fethullah Gulen.
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The assembly made a decision to dismiss all of them under a statutory decree issued last month during Turkey’s current three-month state of emergency.
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.
In July, Ankara asked the USA government to extradite Gulen and has so far sent “eighty-five boxes of files” to Washington to prove his involvement.
“We have received a formal extradition request, just not one pertaining to the coup attempt”, said Toner, who did not elaborate on the dossier submitted by Ankara.
Gulen has harshly condemned the attempted coup attempt by military officers that resulted in a night of explosions, air battles and gunfire that left dozens dead.
Biden will look to show support with Turkey, while raising concern about the extent of the crackdown, USA officials told Reuters.
The government has declared a state of emergency and launched a massive crackdown on Gulen’s supporters in the aftermath of the coup, raising concerns among Turkey’s allies and human rights groups. The Turkish government has since described the Gulen movement as a terrorist organisation. That has angered Erdogan and sparked an outpouring of anti-Americanism from pro-government media. “The [US] has to make this choice”, Erdogan said in a speech.
Since the failed, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has engaged in a political purge to punish those who organized it. The United States backs the Syrian Kurdish YPG in the fight against Islamic State in Syria.
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“People have an expectation that Gulen should be returned to Turkey immediately”, said Gulnur Aybet, who teaches global relations at Turkey’s Bahcesehir University. “They can not and will not, under no circumstances, get American support if they do not keep that commitment”, Biden told reporters at a joint press conference with Prime Minister Binali Yildirim in Ankara. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told reporters last weekend Turkey is opposed to the ethnic segmentation of Syrian territory. For years, both Turkey and the US have called for Assad’s ouster, insisting he can’t be part of Syria’s future government.
