Turkish ruling party orders clean-up after coup attempt: Report

Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has ordered the party to be “cleaned” of supporters of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s arch foe US-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen, state media reported on Friday.

In a circular signed by the party’s deputy leader Hayati Yazici, he ordered an “urgent clean-up in the party organisation” to eliminate those linked with the Fethullah Terrorist Organisation - a name Ankara gives for the movement blamed for the July 15 failed putsch, Anadolu news agency reported.

The party decree also said the operation should take place “without giving any room for trouble or gossip within the party.” 

A party official, contacted by AFP, was not immediately available to confirm the decree. Turkey has accused Gulen of running a “parallel state” and staging the coup attempt through its supporters in the army -- which the reclusive cleric vehemently denies.

Turkish authorities have implemented a relentless crackdown in the wake of the coup.

Over 60,000 people within military, judiciary, civil service and education have been dismissed, detained or are currently under investigation for suspected links to the Gulen movement.