ERDOGAN THANKS PAKISTAN FOR DEPORTATIONS

Turkey's president praised Pakistan on Thursday for siding with him against alleged followers of a dissident cleric he blames for a failed coup earlier this year, a day after Pakistan ordered 400 Turkish nationals to leave the country.

“We will eliminate this terrorist organization before it harms Pakistan,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a speech at Pakistan's parliament.

Turkey has waged a widescale crackdown against followers of Fethullah Gulen, a self-exiled U.S.-based cleric whose organization runs a global network of charities, business groups, schools and hospitals. Turkey has arrested tens of thousands of people since July's failed coup and dismissed more than 100,000 civil servants suspected of ties to Gulen.