US could hand over Gulen quickly if wants to: Turkey FM

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu calls for a "decisive" action by the United States with regard to the extradition of opposition cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom the Ankara government accuses of orchestrating last week’s failed coup attempt.

“If you want to draw out the Gulen extradition issue it can take years, but if you are decisive, it can be completed in a short period,” Cavusoglu told state-run TRT Haber television news network on Friday.

He added that Turkey is ready to participate in a commission Washington has proposed to set up to deal with the possible extradition.

Gulen has condemned the coup attempt and denied any involvement in the violence. He has instead stated that the botched putsch may have been staged by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan himself as an excuse to crack down on dissent and expand his presidential powers.

US Secretary of State John Kerry has said Washington would consider Ankara’s extradition request, but Gulen would be sent back only after compelling evidence corroborated his culpability.

Pro-coup soldiers in Greece

Cavusoglu also called on Greek officials to deport eight pro-coup Turkish soldiers, who fled following the July 15 abortive coup.

“The coup plotters are asking for political asylum. [But] they cannot be granted political asylum. What we expect from Greek authorities is that they cooperate [with Turkey], and send these traitors back,” the top Turkish diplomat said.

“Opponents of Turkey are trying to put pressure on Greek courts in the name of human rights groups. Decisions on this issue cannot be made under pressure. Everything is explicit,” Cavusoglu commented.

A Greek court on Thursday sentenced the eight Turkish soldiers, who arrived on board a military helicopter at the airport in the northeastern city of Alexandroupolis on July 16, to two months in prison for illegally entering Greece. Authorities are evaluating their asylum requests.

Meanwhile, Turkish officials have detained the former governor of the country’s northern Sinop province.

Security sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Yasemin Ozata Cetinkaya was suspended from her position the day after the coup attempt. The provincial court remanded her husband, Colonel Temel Cetinkaya, in custody on Monday.

Erdogan said on Thursday that the death toll from the failed coup attempt had risen to 246 people, excluding the coup plotters, and that 2,185 people had sustained injuries.

Turkish officials have launched a large-scale crackdown following last Friday’s attempted coup d’état. A three-month state of emergency has been declared in Turkey.

Turkey’s Ministry of National Education announced in a statement on Tuesday that it had dismissed 15,200 of its employees from their jobs over their alleged involvement in the putsch.

The Turkish public broadcaster TRT also reported that the country's High Education Board had ordered the resignation of 1,577 deans, including 1,176 in public universities and 401 in private institutions.

Sources in Turkey’s Interior Ministry said on Monday that a total of 8,777 Interior Ministry officials had been suspended since July 16.

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