Turkish minister says Gulen no longer 'useful' to US

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's justice minister has said Fetullah Gulen is no longer "a useful tool" for the U.S.

Answering journalists’ questions at Anadolu Agency's Editors' Desk in Ankara on Tuesday, Bekir Bozdag said Gulen's direction of the July 15 coup plot was a "fact known by all".

Speaking two days after five million people in Istanbul attended a huge cross-party, pro-democracy rally, Bozdag said:

"If you ask what the message of Aug. 7 and 15 July is, it is a declaration to both friends and enemies that henceforth coups cannot be staged in Turkey.” Bozdag added the Turkish people “would never allow it”.

"Our nation said it would settle its freedom and future," the minister said.

Bozdag went on to say that tools which act with foreign forces behind them cannot "seal the fate" of Turkey or decide the country’s future.

The justice minister also said the U.S. authorities' message so far about extraditing Pennsylvania-based Gulen had been "positive".

"They discuss extraditing Gulen and care about the demands of extradition. We consider this a positive development," Bozdag said. "The U.S. must facilitate the unconditional extradition of Fetullah Gulen to Turkey."

Turkey's government has repeatedly said the coup attempt was organized by followers of Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in the U.S. since 1999.

Gulen is accused of leading a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary, forming what is commonly known as the parallel state.

The July 15 coup bid left 240 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.