New York - Turkey’s failed coup was “staged” by its president so he could further tighten his grip on power, an exiled cleric has suggested.
The coup left 290 people dead, including more than 100 alleged mutineers, and more than 1 100 injured.
Fethullah Gulen - who Turkey claims instigated the attempted takeover - said nobody believed a word president Recep Tayyip Erdogan was saying.
Gulen, who remains a powerful figure in Turkey despite living in exile in the US, claimed the failed coup was engineered so Erdogan could make further “accusations” against his enemies.
On Sunday a Syrian state newspaper also argued that the coup was fabricated and designed to “avenge the military and strip it of its remaining popular support”.
Erdogan is a strong backer of the insurgents trying to remove president Bashar al-Assad from power in neighbouring Syria.
Speculation has been mounting over Friday’s takeover attempt after it fell apart in less than 24 hours, amid reports some soldiers thought they were on a training exercise.
By the following morning, the troops were surrendering and Erdogan appeared on TV to declare victory.
Sibel Samli, an independent film producer in Istanbul, said: “We didn’t know if it was real or a hoax. People around us were saying that it was a staged coup orchestrated by President Erdogan.”
Around 6 000 soldiers and members of the judiciary have now been rounded up as Erdogan’s supporters call for the return of the death penalty.
Read more: Turkey expands crackdown after failed coup
Gulen, 75, is a former imam who fell out with Erdogan over allegations of corruption in 2013.
He made the extraordinary claims from his compound in Pennsylvania, but did not provide any evidence to back them up.
Erdogan has demanded the US extradite Gulen, but Secretary of State John Kerry refused, saying there was no “legitimate evidence” he was behind the coup.
Daily Mail