Timmermans: Gulen played a role in Turkey attempted coup

The so called Gulen-movement "certainly" played a role in a failed coup in Turkey earlier this year, Vice President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans said in an interview with Knack on Tuesday, AD reports.

The Turkish government sees cleric Fethullah Gulen as the mastermind behind the attempted coup in July, but so far has little evidence to prove it. Gulen currently lives in the United States.

"It is now clear that what President Recep tayyip Erdogan says about the role of the Gulen moevement in the coup is not total nonsense", Timmermans said to the Belgian newspaper. "On the basis of American investigation there are groiwing indications that the movement certaily played a role."

Over the past months Erdogan asked the U.S. to extradite Gulen several times, but so far to no avail. Shortly after the election of Donald Trump, the Turkish president also appealed to him for Gulen's extradition.