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Turkey moves to extradite expat Poconos cleric for coup attempt

The president did not give details, but the measure could allow longer detentions for numerous almost 10,000 people who have been rounded up since loyalist security forces and protesters quashed the rebellion that started on Friday night and was over by Saturday.

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Turkey’s religious directorate issued a statement on Tuesday, saying it would not offer religious funerary services, including funeral prayers, for soldiers involved in the failed coup attempt, except for those who had been “forcibly dragged” into the military actions attempting to overthrow the government. “So this is sufficient ground”.

Earnest added that if the USA does receive a request, that request “will be carefully considered within that context of the extradition treaty that has been on the books for 30 years now”.

The US state department later said it was still in the process of analysing materials submitted by Turkey, but that it could not characterise the documents as an official extradition request for Gulen.

U.S. President Barack Obama spoke with Erdogan on Tuesday about the coup and the status of Gulen, who lives in Pennsylvania. Thousands of education staff have been suspended after the coup attempt.

They follow earlier aggressive moves by Erdogan’s administration against Gulen loyalists in the government, police and judiciary following corruption probes targeting Erdogan associates and family members in late 2013 – prosecutions the government says were orchestrated by Gulen.

The announcement came shortly after a report that the High Education Board had ordered the resignation of 1,577 deans at all universities across Turkey.

The dismissals touched every aspect of government life.

The National Education Ministry said Tuesday that the staffers were in both urban and rural establishments, and that an investigation was launched against them, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

“This is a state of emergency imposed not on the people, but on (the state) itself”, declared Prime Minister Binali Yildirim. In addition, thousands of other state employees have been fired in half a dozen agencies, all accused of being Gulen followers.

If the request survived those tests and is found lawful, it would still need to get the approval of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who can consider non-legal factors, such as humanitarian arguments.

“If the AKP is ready, we are in for the death penalty”, Bahceli said.

Mr Erdogan has hinted he may reintroduce the death penalty, which the country abolished in 2004 in line with its bid to join the European Union.

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Addressing hundreds of supporters outside his Istanbul residence in the early hours of Tuesday, Erdogan responded to calls for the reintroduction of the death penalty with the simple statement: “You can not put aside the people’s demands”. Erdogan announced the state of emergency in a live broadcast in front of his government ministers after a almost five-hour meeting of the National Security Council. About 8,000 police officers have been removed on suspicion of links to the plot. She took out her smartphone to show reporters pictures of Terzi in his hospital bed. At least 24 coup plotters were also killed.

US says had not received Turkey extradition request for cleric