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Turkey has detained more than 35000 people following coup attempt

The intervention by Oana Lungescu, a Nato spokesperson, comes after Turkey’s foreign minister warned the country would consider leaving Nato if the organisation did not come to its defence, following the perceived lack of support following the failed coup.

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Cavusoglu on Thursday said the Assad regime – which Turkey says is to blame for the killing of hundreds of thousands of people – should not rule the country.

Erdogan has since strongly demanded that the USA extradite Gülen immediately.

“We need to fight against those together”, Cavusoglu said.

On the issue of Turkish schools and institutions in Nigeria, the ambassador said his government and the Nigerian government were already talking to find a solution to the issue saying, “The government of Turkey will never do anything against the Nigerian people”.

Asked if the U.S.is concerned about the high number of people rounded up for supposed coup involvement, State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau told reporters Thursday, “I’m not an intelligence agent”.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said, however, that despite differences Turkey and Iran “would strengthen cooperation for a lasting peace in Syria”.

“We have started to receive some positive signals on the calls we have made” for Gulen’s extradition, Cavusoglu said, adding that additional evidence was being drawn up to add to the dossier already send to Washington.

Cakil had late last month revealed that the Turkish government had requested the closure of 17 school in Nigeria with links to the alleged mastermind of the botched coup plot, US-based Turk, Fetullah Gulen. Interior Minister Efkan Ala was quoted on Thursday as saying nearly 76,100 civil servants have now been suspended.

In response, Turkey has launched a sweeping crackdown on the Gulen movement.

Turkey on Friday vowed to cooperate with Iran on resolving the conflict in Syria, despite Tehran and Ankara so far taking opposing sides in a civil war that has lasted more than five years.

A senior United Nations humanitarian official, Jan Egeland, said the Russian offer of a daily truce “is really nothing”.

Turkey has also cancelled the work permits of 27,424 people in the education sector as part of its investigations, Education Minister Ismet Yilmaz said on Thursday.

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Earlier this week, media reports said the pair had gone missing. They are among 3,500 judges and prosecutors – a quarter of the national total – suspended in the coup inquiry, according to state-run Anadolu Agency.

AFP  File  Alexander Nemenov
Russian President Vladimir Putin greets his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Konstantinovsky Palace outside Saint Petersburg