US Dismisses Turkey’s Claims Being behind 2016 Coup Attempt

The U.S. State Department rejected, on Thursday, the Turkish Minister's statement that United States was behind 2016 coup attempt, asserting that it was "wholly false."

After Turkey's Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu accused the United States of being behind the coup, the State Department issued a statement, affirming that such "remarks and other unfounded and irresponsible claims of U.S. responsibility for events in Turkey are inconsistent with Turkey’s status as a NATO Ally and strategic partner of the United States."

“The United States had no involvement in the 2016 attempted coup in Turkey and promptly condemned it.”

It stressed in the statement: “Recent assertions to the contrary made by senior Turkish officials are wholly false.”

Ankara has blamed preacher Fethullah Gulen, a former ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who lives in Pennsylvania, and launched a widespread crackdown on his network, which Ankara refers to by the acronym ‘FETO’.

However; Soylu told Hurriyet the United States had managed the coup attempt while Gulen’s network carried it out, adding that “Europe was enthusiastic about it,” reaffirming his view which he had been expressing since the putsch.

“It is blatantly clear the United States is behind July 15. It was FETO who carried it out upon their orders,” he said.