Turkey issued an arrest warrant on Thursday for Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric based in the United States, who was accused last month of orchestrating a failed coup against the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The warrant issued by an Istanbul court said Mr. Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, ordered the July 15 coup attempt that resulted in the deaths of more than 250 people, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
The order for Mr. Gulen’s arrest is a step toward a formal extradition request to the United States, which Turkish officials say will be submitted after an investigation into the botched coup. Ankara has already sent evidence to the White House that alleges Mr. Gulen plotted the coup. Mr. Gulen has denied those charges.
Mr. Erdogan has been calling for the extradition since 2013, when he accused Mr. Gulen’s followers, who held positions in the judiciary, of orchestrating a corruption inquiry that implicated Mr. Erdogan’s inner circle.
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