A US-based Turkish cleric accused of plotting a coup to overthrow the Ankara government has claimed President Recep Erdogan staged the rebellion himself to justify a major clampdown on opposition forces.
Fethullah Gulen, who was a former key ally of Erdogan has been blamed by the politician of using his contacts to develop a ‘parallel structure’ to overthrow the state.
Erdogan has called on US President Barack Obama to extradite Gulen, who is based in Pennsylvania.
UPDATE: ‘The coup is a gift from God’: Erdogan uses botched rebellion to start purge – including arresting 3,000 secular judges – to forge radical new Turkey after urging Islamists to stay on the streets, by Darren Boyle.
Turkish president Recep Erdogan has described Friday’s attempted coup as a ‘gift from God’ as it will allow him to ‘cleanse’ the army.
The hard-line Islamist leader managed to cling onto power after making a dramatic appeal over FaceTime for his supporters to confront the military who attempted to seize strategic locations in Istanbul and Ankara. …
Erdogan has rounded up almost 6,000 troops, judges and prosecutors following Friday night’s coup…
Fadi Hakura, a Turkey expert at the Chatham House think tank in London, said the attempted coup appeared to have been ‘carried out by lower-ranking officers’.
‘Their main gripe seems to have been President Erdogan’s attempt to transform his office into a powerful and centralised executive presidency. In the short term, this failed coup plot will strengthen President Erdogan.’
