
Pro-government demonstrators march over the Bosphorus Bridge, from the Asian to the European side of Istanbul, Turkey, July 21, 2016.
Gulen's key aide Halis Hanci arrived to Turkey two days before the attempted coup, according to the official who described him as Gulen's right-hand man.
Earlier Saturday, Muhammet Sait Gulen, Fettulah Gulen's nephew, was arrested on the orders of the chief prosecutor of Ankara. He is the first of Gulen's close relatives to be detained in the current crackdown, though other members of the Pennsylvania-based preacher's family have previously been placed in custody.
The arrested coup plotters "are starting to confess," Erdogan told France-24 television in an interview on Saturday, stressing that, according to the testimonies of the coup leaders, they "were given instructions from Pennsylvania."
"They even tried to get the army chief of staff, who was being held hostage, to speak to Gulen directly," Erdogan told France-24.
Similar information has been reported by the Turkish state-run Anadolu news agency, which said that those who took the Chief of the General Staff hostage during the attempted coup demanded that he speak with Gulen.














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