Gulen has denied any knowledge.
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More than 58,880 civil service employees – including teachers, university deans and police – have been dismissed, suspended, forced to resign or had their licenses revoked for allegedly being Gulen followers.
The Pentagon said U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter telephoned Turkish defense minister Fikri Isik on Tuesday and among the issues discussed was Incirlik Air Base, a principal launch point for air attacks against Islamic State, but which has had limited operations since the coup attempt. The coup leaders tried to block access to sites such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, but factions loyal to the Turkish leader appear to have blocked the effort by maintaining control over the country’s internet authority.
The defiant leader held meetings with his security council and cabinet before delivering his rousing speech to the nation. The government would announce important decisions on Wednesday to rescue the country from what he said were extraordinary circumstances. “There is no need to prove the coup attempt”.
There was no immediate statement Wednesday from Turkey’s Telecommunications Board, a government agency that regulates access to websites. Years of military rule had reduced Turkey to a country with escalating inflation and a public debt of 74 percent of its GDP in 2002, which Erdogan successfully brought to under 39 percent by 2009.
The president did not announce details, but the security measure could facilitate longer detentions for numerous almost 10,000 people who have been rounded up since loyalist security forces and protesters quashed the rebellion that started Friday night and was over by Saturday.
Turkey’s Western allies have urged Ankara to abide by the rule of law amid fears about a worsening state of democracy and human rights. It states that there will be no new assignments until further notice and that academics now overseas on assignment will be recalled unless they are obligated to remain there.
Ankara says the reclusive Gulen, who wields enormous influence in Turkey through supporters in various apparatus as well as a private school network school, hatched the plot to end Erdogan’s 13 years in power. Annual leave has been suspended for more than 3 million civil servants, while close to 3,000 judges and prosecutors have also been purged.
“As the commander in chief, I will also attend to it so that all the viruses within the armed forces will be cleansed”, Erdogan said.
Last Friday’s attempted coup by rogue elements of the military resulted in the martyring of at least 240 people and the injuring of almost 1,500 others.
Turkey has faced worldwide calls for restraint in its handling of the aftermath of the failed coup.
The state-run religious affairs body has also declared that no religious rites would be performed for the coup plotters killed in the uprising.
The pro-government death toll in the botched coup was 246.
The administration added that the extradition of Gulen will greatly weaken the terrorist organization, which is hostile to the interests of the Turkish people.
Turkish authorities have blamed Gulen, a one-time Erdogan ally, of being behind the attempt to topple Turkey’s government and called on the USA to arrest and extradite him.
Gulen has strongly denied the government’s charges, suggesting the attempted coup could have been staged as a pretext for the Erdogan government to seize even more power. “The president’s expectation is that people from Turkey want to see a full investigation and accountability for those who are complicit”. said Josh Earnest, White house spokesman.
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Before the vote Thursday, another deputy prime minister, Numan Kurtulmus, said once the emergency measures are invoked, the country would suspend its participation in the European Convention of Human Rights, an global treaty meant to protect human rights and freedoms.
