Turkey police search key airbase used by United States after failed coup attempt: State media

John Bass, the US ambassador to Turkey, said that according to media reports and comments by public figures that Washington backed an attempted coup were “categorically untrue” and such speculation harmed the NATO allies’ friendship.

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President Tayyip Erdogan and other Turkish officials have blamed the Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen, who lives in Pennyslvania in self-imposed exile, of orchestrating the July 15 coup attempt that killed more than 200 people.

Bass said in a statement posted on the embassy’s website that the United States was willing to provide assistance in Turkey’s investigation of the abortive coup and would consider any extradition request if it met legal requirements.

Turkey’s labour minister and other prominent figures have said the United States “authored” the intervention by a faction within the Turkish armed forces.

Earlier in the day, Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek also said that Turkey will expect “strong support” for its request to extradite exiled Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen once it presents evidence against him to the United States government.

Turkey and the United States may sometimes have disagreements but they are also allies and Ankara would not want to endanger that bilateral relationship, Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek added.

Simsek made the comment in an interview with broadcaster Kanal 7. Ankara blames Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in the United States for years, for a failed military coup at the weekend that attempted to topple the Turkish government.

Gulen denies the charges. The United States has said it would consider any extradition request if it meets U.S. legal guidelines.