
© AFP Photo / Zaman DailyFethullah Gulen.
A prosecutor has asked a Turkish court to issue an arrest warrant for long-time Erdogan rival Fethullah Gulen,
a US-based cleric, Reuters cited a government official as saying.
However, no court decision has yet been reached.
An earlier report by TRT Haber television, a Turkish state-run channel, stated that the court had
already issued the warrant.
The broadcaster removed the story from its website without explanation.
This comes in the wake of the last week's media raids,
during which over 20 suspected Gulen supporters, including chief editors and media executives, were detained.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is accusing the self-exiled preacher of plotting to overthrow the state.
Relations soured between the two after an anti-graft probe launched in 2013, which Erdogan suspects was
an attempt by Gulen and his followers to destabilize the government.
Gulen, who heads Hizmet, an influential spiritual and social movement, has denied the allegations. Last week, Erdogan vowed to crush the "evil forces" associated with the movement and its leader.
"We are not just faced with a simple network, but
one which is a pawn of evil forces at home and abroad," the president declared last Friday.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu indicated last week that Ankara may ask Interpol for a "red notice" - a document necessary for the extradition and arrest of a suspect located abroad - for Gulen.
"The judiciary will do whatever is necessary in the investigation of Fethullah Gülen. Whether it is a red notice or something else. He will not be treated differently than any other Turkish citizen," Davutoglu said during a press conference,
Daily Sabah reported.
Earlier this year, Erdogan announced that he would be seeking Gulen's extradition. However, according to international law, an arrest warrant and evidence against the cleric first had to be produced.
Gulen has repeatedly been accused of attempting to form a "parallel state." He was tried and found guilty in 2000, before being acquitted of all charges in 2008.
Before relocating to the US in 1999, the popular cleric was one of Erdogan's top allies. Their relationship began to deteriorate as Erdogan grew paranoid about Gulen's growing influence, facilitated by schools, education centers, and charity organizations in over 160 countries.
Critics have accused Erdogan of building an authoritarian regime and bending the constitution to concentrate an increasing amount of power in the presidency.
Gulen is a CIA asset. All those schools allegedly opened by Gulen are full of cia spies.
Once Gulen and Erdogan were buddies. But when Gulen ( his followers in the legal force) tried to arrest Erdogan's ministersand Erdogan's son by revealing their level of corruption, they became enemies.
There is a lot to be said about this topic. Gulen and his followers have infiltrated everywhere in Turkey including the turkish army. Theie judges arrested even the commander of the turkish armed forces as soon as his term was finished. He was accused of being the head of a terrorist organization. Most of the turkish army generals were put in jail. They were accused of being traitors and of selling women and of forming a gang or network called Ergenekon to overthrow the government. Now most of them are out of jail and await new trials to be acquitted. By the way Ergenekon is myth about the origins of turkish people.