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Turkey denies Gulen’s possible departure to Egypt — TV

Earlier, Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozda said that islamic opposition figurehead Fethullah Gulen could have fled the United States for Australia, Mexico, Canada, South Africa

ANKARA, July 28 /TASS/. Islamic opposition figurehead Fethullah Gulen could have left the United States for a number of countries, except Egypt, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told CNN Turk television channel on Thursday.

"We have no information about Gulen’s links with Egypt but we know that he could have left for a number of other countries," Cavusoglu said.

Earlier, Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozda· told Haberturk TV that Gulen could have fled the United States for Australia, Mexico, Canada, South Africa or Egypt. Egypt’s Prime Minister Ismail Sherif said Egypt had received no political asylum requests from Gulen but was ready to consider it if it received such a request.

A group of insurgents took an abortive coup attempt in Turkey late on July 16. The main confrontation took place in Ankara and Istanbul. The country’s leaders announced later that the coup attempt had been thwarted.

According to the latest reports, 246 people, the putsch members excluded, died and more than 2,000 were injured.

On Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared a state of emergency in Turkey for three months.

Fethullah Gulen is the head of a so-called parallel structure whose goal is to undermine the constitutional order and overthrow the republic’s incumbent leadership. Gulen has been in voluntary exile in Pennsylvania, USA, since 1999. The Turkish government has sent an official extradition request to Washington.