Turkey demands extradition of cleric Fethullah Gulen from U.S.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim confirmed Tuesday an official request was sent to the United States for the extradition of Fethullah Gulen, a suspect linked to Friday's coup attempt, according to state-run media.

“We have sent four dossiers to the United States for the extradition of the terrorist chief," Turkish Prime Minister Birnili Yildirim said during the ruling Justice and Development Party meeting at the parliament in Ankara, the Anadolu Agency reported.

Mark Toner, deputy spokesman at the State Department, said Turkey this morning sent the State Department materials “which we are in the process of analyzing under the treaty” that governs extradition requests.

“I am not in position at this point in time to judge whether they constitute a formal extradition request,” Toner said. “There’s a well-defined process in place that govern these types of actions.”

Toner added that this was not an "overnight process" and that he did not want to comment on the documents until "we determine they constitute a formal extradition request.”

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the materials would be reviewed by the Departments of State and Justice.

President Obama spoke by telephone Tuesday with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, reiterating U.S. commitment to the democratically elected government of Turkey, but also urging those arrested in the wake of the coup attempt be afforded their rights of due process under the Turkish Constitution, Earnest said.

Gulen has denied allegations that he was involved in the overthrow attempt and told reporters that he would have tried to stop any takeover had he known about it.

“I condemn and reject in the strongest terms the attempted coup,” Gulen, 77, said in an interview Monday with USA TODAY and several other reporters.

Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday that if an extradition request for Gulen was made, the U.S. would agree to it only if there were compelling proof of wrongdoing by the cleric.

"We need to see genuine evidence that withstands the standard of scrutiny that exists in many countries' system of law with respect to the issue of extradition," Kerry said. "If it meets that standard, there's nothing — there's no interest we have in standing in the way of appropriately honoring the treaty that we have with Turkey."

Earnest said Monday that "the suggestion that somehow the United States is harboring Mr. Gulen is factually incorrect."

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said there are 9,322 suspects involved in the coup attempt and all are going through legal procedures, Kurtulmus said.

A thousand pro-government protesters rallied in Istanbul on Tuesday, waving flags and demanding the death penalty for those involved with the coup, the Associated Press reported.

The Supreme Council of Radio and Television also canceled licenses of 24 Gulen-linked broadcasters — including Samanyolu, Can Erzincan television and Dunya Radio, according to the agency.

Interview: Reclusive Turkish cleric condemns coup attempt, denies involvement

Erdogan, who beat down the attempted coup by Saturday morning, has rounded up and dismissed thousands of members of the military, police and judiciary he accuses of being followers of Gulen and plotting against Turkey’s democratically elected government.

Turkey’s Board of Higher Education requested resignations from 1,577 university deans. Of the deans dismissed, 1,176 worked in public universities and 401 in private institutions, Anadolu reported Tuesday.

Gulen, a former political ally of Erdogan, preaches a moderate form of Islam and has lived in self-exile in Pennsylvania since 1999. His followers run a network of charter schools and cultural centers in the United States and are prolific political donors.

Contributing: Gregg Zoroya in Mclean, Va.; Oren Dorell  in Washington, D.C.