USA has not received Turkey extradition request for cleric, says U.S. official

Turkey says Fethullah Gulen, a US -based Muslim cleric, was behind the coup and has demanded his extradition.

The call came after Friday’s attempted coup, which has led to a wave of arrests and suspensions of military, judicial, police and civil service members.

Official figures from the prime minister’s office reveal that the failed coup also left 1,541 people wounded.

Turkey’s National Intelligence Agency (MİT) informed others about the planned coup attempt to the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) hours before the tanks took to the streets, according to a TAF statement released on Tuesday, July 19. Gulen’s supporters accused Erdogan of scapegoating the cleric to grab more power.

However, the rebelling servicemen started to surrender July 16 and Turkish authorities said the coup attempt failed.

Turkey’s high education board has also forced the resignation of more than 1,500 university deans.

“The fight against Gulen’s movement still remains one of Turkey’s main priorities”, the administration said.

Gulen, a former political ally of Erdogan, preaches a moderate form of Islam and has lived in self-exile in Pennsylvania since 1999.

Whistleblower site WikiLeaks seems to think Turkey’s purge has spread to cyberspace.

Meanwhile, a group of servicemen announced about transition of power to them.

“We are unsure of the true origin of the attack”.

“Justice will be manifested”, he said.

It was unclear when the other 500,000 documents would be released.

Worldwide pressure is mounting on Erdogan after he responded to the failed coup with an iron fist.

On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in Brussels that his country has “a formal process for dealing with extradition requests” and that Turkey “must send evidence, not allegations”. “They have indicated they will hand it over”, the official said.

After appeals are exhausted, an extradition request would still need to get the approval of the US secretary of state, who can consider humanitarian arguments and other non-legal factors.