Erdogan vowed to rid Turkey of the network of US -based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whose followers in the security forces, judiciary and civil service he accuses of orchestrating the attempted power grab and of plotting to overthrow the state.
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“The American vice president is expected.to come to Turkey, on August 24 with the American delegation”, Binali Yildirim told a group of journalists, according to the website of TV channel CNN Turk.
Turkish police raided offices in three courts in Istanbul on Monday, after an order was issued to arrest 173 workers in the judiciary as part of an ongoing investigation after the failed military coup that took place last month.
The failed attempt to dislodge Erdogen left 240 people dead. Government officlas have also bitterly criticized the United States for “showing no eagerness” to seize the extradition request.
USA officials have said that the United States has a formal process for dealing with extradition requests and that Turkey must provide solid evidence of Gulen’s involvement.
“The main element improving our relations with the USA is the extradition of Gulen, where there is no room for negotiation”, Mr Yildirim was quoted as saying by CNN Turk’s general manager, who was among journalists attending the briefing. Gulen has denied the charge and condemned the coup.
Gulen said on Friday he would only hand himself over to Turkish authorities if an independent worldwide investigative body first found him guilty.
In the crackdown since the abortive coup, more than 76,000 civil servants, judges and security force members have been suspended and almost 5,000 dismissed, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Saturday.
The cabinet meeting, which is to set to be held at the Presidential Complex will be chaired by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
In another arrest, a prosecutor in eastern Turkey, who had been suspended under the coup investigation, was detained as he tried to cross the border into Syria on Sunday night, a Turkish government official said.
Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Tanju Bilgic, in a statement, said the comments by Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein were unacceptable.
The scope of the crackdown now appears to be even worrying some in the ruling party. Turkish officials counter they are confronting an major internal threat.
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In the past, he has been accused of being the leader of an organisation that illegally tapped into the conversations of Erdogan and Ahmet Davutoglu, the former prime minister.
