Turkey's Erdogan slams US reaction to failed coup

ANKARA — Turkey's president slammed the US on Friday, claiming it was not standing firmly against a failed military coup and accused it of harboring the plot's alleged mastermind.

Turkey has demanded the US to extradite Fethullah Gulen, a cleric living in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania whom it accuses of being behind the violent July 15 coup attempt that left more than 200 people dead.

It is accusing Western nations of not extending sufficient support to its efforts to counter further threats from followers of the Gulen movement, which it says have infiltrated the country's state institutions.

Turkey considers Gulen's movement a terrorist organization. Gulen has denied any prior knowledge of the plot and says his movement espouses interfaith dialogue. The United States has asked Turkey for evidence of his involvement, and said the US extradition process must take its course.

"Instead of thanking this nation that quashed the coup in the name of democracy, on the contrary, you are taking sides with the coup plotters," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in an angry speech Friday at a police special forces headquarters in Ankara.

The facility was bombed and fired upon during the attempted coup, and 47 police officers were killed. "The putschist is already in your country," Erdogan said.