MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Late on Friday, Turkish authorities said that an attempted coup took place in the country. Erdogan urged Turkish citizens to take to streets, stating that the coup attempt was carried out by a small group within the military. On Saturday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other officials have blamed Gulen staying in self-imposed exile in the United States and his supporters for the coup attempt and called on his US counterpart Barack Obama to extradite the cleric, while speaking to a crowd of his supporters.
"With respect to Fethullah Gulen, we have received no requests for extradition," Kerry said at a joint press conference with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.
He added that the extradition procedure was very formal and a formal request should be submitted to start it.
"We also firmly urge the government of Turkey to maintain calm and stability throughout the country, and we also urge the government of Turkey to uphold higher standards of respect for the nation's democratic institutions and the rule of law. We will certainly support bringing the perpetrators of the coup to justice, but we also caution against a reach that goes well beyond that," Kerry said at a press conference after meeting with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.
Kerry stressed that the United States and the European Union will seek to work in a constructive way with Turkey in order to prevent a backsliding of democracy amid the difficult post-coup situation, adding that Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has assured him that Turkey's government would respect the democratic process in its dealing with coup perpetrators.
"I spoke with the foreign minister three times in the last days and he assured me that they fully intended to respect the democratic process and the law," Kerry said.
