Tensions build between U.S. and Turkey

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan demands that America hand over Fethullah Gulen whom he believes is behind the plot. The exiled cleric lives in Pennsylvania.

Once they hand over that head terrorist in Pennsylvania to us, everything will be clear,” Erdogan said.

Secretary of State John Kerry said that the U.S. would support investigations to determine who is behind the coup attempt, but he did not say whether Guelen would be extradited.

The Washington Post reports that," The air force appears to have been deeply involved, with pilots commandeering F-16 fighter jets and helicopters and seizing control of at least one military air base, Ackinci, outside Ankara.

Some personnel at Incirlik, a major NATO air base that is home to the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in Europe and about 1,000 U.S. troops, are also suspected of taking part in the attempted government overthrow, a senior Turkish official said.

“We suspect that Incirlik was used to refuel hijacked aircraft last night,” he said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject. It appears, he added, that “a small group of Turkish troops stationed at Incirlik supported the coup attempt.”

U.S. officials said the United States had boosted force protection levels on bases in Turkey to their highest level, and the U.S. Embassy in Ankara warned Americans to stay away from Incirlik, outside the southern city of Adana.

U.S. bombing runs over Iraq and Syria remained suspended because much of Turkish military airspace remains closed, and the U.S. government has adjusted its flight roster to sustain the anti-Islamic State war effort, said Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook. Power was cut to the base, but U.S. operations there run on “internal power sources,” he added."

קישורים:
Turkey rounds up thousands of suspected participants in coup attempt

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