US-based cleric denies role in coup attempt

An exiled Muslim cleric whom Turkey’s President has accused of orchestrating a failed coup attempt denied any responsibility, saying he had no knowledge of the plot.

Fethullah Gulen on Saturday told reporters at his Pennsylvania compound that he knows only a “minute fraction” of his legions of sympathisers in Turkey, so he cannot speak to their “potential involvement” in the attempted coup. “You can think about many motivations of people who staged this coup. They could be sympathisers of the Opposition party. They could be sympathisers of the nationalist party. It could be anything,” Mr Gulen said.

Meanwhile, the US rejected accusations that it was behind the coup attempt and said such public insinuations are harmful to bilateral relations.

Secretary of state John Kerry called his Turkish counterpart on Saturday to offer support and protest claims that the US had backed it.

“Kerry made clear that the United States would be willing to provide assistance to Turkish authorities conducting this investigation, but that public insinuations or claims about any role by the United States in the failed coup attempt are utterly false and harmful to our bilateral relations,” state department spokesperson John Kirby said.

Secretary of state John Kerry had called his Turkish counterpart to offer support. “Kerry made clear that the US would be willing to provide assistance to Turkish authorities conducting this investigation, but that public insinuations or claims about any role by the US in the failed coup are utterly false and harmful to our bilateral relations,” a US spokesperson said.