July 15th Failed Putsch - Turkey Detains 16 Journalists As Gülen Pleads With The US Not To Extradite Him!

No fewer than 16 Journalists are currently in detention for questioning on their involvement in the July 15th, 2016, failed coup attempt in which about 290 people reportedly lost their lives in Turkey.

Turkish preacher, writer, political figure, and spiritual leader of the Hizmet movement, Fetullah Gülen, who is accused by the Turkish government of founding a terrorist group, and masterminding the failed coup, has accused President Erdoğan of “blackmailing” the United States government into extraditing him from the scenic Poconos area in Pennsylvania, where he lives since 1999 in voluntary exile.

According to a recent opinion piece for the New York Times, Gülen said “His (President Erdoğan) goal: to ensure my extradition, despite a lack of credible evidence and virtually no prospect for a fair trial,”...
...“The temptation to give Mr Erdoğan whatever he wants is understandable. But the United States must resist it.”

Gülen denied having anything to do with the failed coup, instead he accused President Erdoğan’s administration of shifting towards “a dictatorship” that was “polarising the population” and “fuelling the fanatics”.

“The United States must not accommodate an autocrat who is turning a failed putsch into a slow-motion coup of his own against constitutional government"...he wrote.

In the on-going clamp down, Turkey authorities issued warrants for the detention of about 47 former executives/ senior journalists of Zaman newspaper; Zaman columnist Şahin Alpay, a former Zaman columnist was reportedly detained at his home early on Wednesday, 27th July, 2016.

Defending their reluctance to extradite Fetullah Gülen, the US government reportedly asked for firm evidence that proves Gülen's involvement in the foiled coup attempt.

Since 15th July, Turkish government embarked in cleansing which saw to the detention of more than 13,000 people in the military, judiciary and other institutions.