And a hotel in Istanbul’s Eyup district municipality is being demolished – it was allegedly the meeting point of the plotters who planned the coup.
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“If Turkey decides to submit an extradition request for anyone legally resident in the United States, it will be considered under the terms of the US-Turkey extradition agreement”, Bass added.
Meanwhile, Turkey’s telecom agency on July 20 blocked access to the WikiLeaks website one day after it leaked hundreds of thousands of e-mails from the ruling Justice and Development Party.
The moves are seen as attacks against USA -based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who has been accused of masterminding the attempted coup, which resulted in more than 200 people being killed. “There was a list of people suspected of planning a coup”.
Turkey’s democratically elected president Recep Tayyip Erdogan attended funerals on Sunday for the 294 people killed in the coup attempt, vowing to destroy what he called the “virus” that caused it. A further 492 people were removed from duty at the Religious Affairs Directorate, 257 at the prime minister’s office and 300 at the energy ministry.
Gulen has strongly denied the government’s charges, suggesting the attempted military coup in Turkey could have been staged as a pretext for the Erdogan government to seize even more power.
Gulen, in a statement released Tuesday, said Erdogan “once again demonstrated he will go to any length necessary to solidify his power and persecute his critics”.
In a notice sent to universities across Turkey, the Council of Higher Education (YOK) also demanded the recall of those academics already on assignment outside the country unless it is deemed absolutely necessary they continue their work.
The U.S. said Monday that it did not express support for Turkey within the first hours of a recent coup attempt because it was trying to assess what was taking place. Erdogan was heading to the meeting Wednesday of the council, which is the highest advisory body on security issues. Treason – such as that implied by Erdogan’s demand for Gulen’s extradition – is not listed as such an act in the countries’ treaty.
In a statement, Gulen has urged the USA government, “to reject any effort to abuse the extradition process to carry out political vendettas”.
The reclusive cleric leads a popular movement called Hizmet, which includes hundreds of secular co-ed schools, free tutoring centers, hospitals and relief agencies credited with addressing Turkey’s social problems. “Akar’s refusal to be a part of this paved the way for the failure of the coup attempt”, the written transcript published by the newspaper said.
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It is unclear how many soldiers participated in the attack, during which two of Erdogan’s bodyguards were killed, and it is unclear how loyal the troops were, given that they were briefed on the coup so late in proceedings. Some high-ranking military officials involved in the plot have fled overseas, he said.
