Centres of learning are under attack 1,577 university deans have been ordered to tender their resignations and academics banned from leaving the country and those overseas ordered to return.
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Over 230 people were killed during the failed coup attempt. Turkey had filed a dossier in electronic form about Gulen with the United States government, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.
Turkish state media said a further 32 judges and two military officers have been detained by authorities during the crackdown since last week’s coup.
The crackdown that has been launched in Turkey following the coup, including the mass arrests of suspects and the talk of reviving the death penalty, has raised worldwide concern.
Mr Kerry said that he made clear in several phone calls with Turkey’s foreign minister in recent days that mere allegations of wrongdoing against Fethullah Gulen would not meet United States extradition requirements.
But despite the rising tensions in recent days, the Turkish president said Ankara must continue its solidarity with America – and insisted the issue of Mr Gulen’s extradition needs to be separated from the Pentagon’s use of Incirlik airbase in the fight against Islamic State.
The attempt to seize power by members of Turkey’s armed forces was bloody, leaving almost 300 people dead.
Mr Erdogan, who has launched mass purges of state institutions since the coup attempt, said the move was fully in line with Turkey’s constitution and did not violate the rule of law or basic freedoms of Turkish citizens.
The White House confirmed receiving electronic materials Tuesday for the extradition of Fethullah Gulen, who has resided in Pennsylvania since the 1990s, according to the Associated Press.
On an operational level, Air force chief General Akin Ozturk is accused of masterminding the plot.
It was earlier reported that the Turkish government believed Gulen, the founder of the Hizmet movement, was behind the failed military coup attempt.
After Erdogan said Sunday that Turkey would consider a return of capital punishment, Seibert said such a move “would mean the end of European Union membership talks”.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says those who have been in arrested in connection with the attempted coup d’état in Turkey should be able to defend themselves in a “robust and legitimate process” in that country.
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The cleric, Fethullah Gulen, has denied all knowledge of the coup – and has suggested that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government could have staged the coup as a way of consolidating power and eliminating government opponents.
