CRI听力:Turkish President urges U.S. to extradite coup leader

Even as the attempted coup was unfolding, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was pointing to his one-time ally Fethullah Gulen as the ring-leader of the failed push for power.

Gulen is a well-known Islamic scholar and political insider who has been living in exile in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania for the past few years.

Erdogan claims he tried to convince Barack Obama at one point of Gulen's alterior motives.

"I had told you (Obama) that these people were in preparation for a coup. But I could not make you believe it. Today, after his attempted coup, I call to you, give Turkey this person who is in Pennsylvania."

Gulen himself has denied any involvement in the attempted coup.

US officials say they've not received any request for Gulen's extradition from the Turkish government.

US Secretary of State John Kerry does say any evidence put forward to implicate Gulen in the coup will be looked at seriously.

"We fully anticipate that there will be questions raised about Mr. Gulen and obviously we invite the government of Turkey, as we always do to present us with any legitimate evidence that withstands scrutiny and the United States will accept that, and look at it and make judgments about it appropriately."

At the same time, Kerry also says the Obama administration continues to stand behind the Turkish government.

"I talked directly with my foreign minister counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu last night at the time where things were still uncertain as to what was happening and expressed my confidence in him and the government and our readiness to be supportive."

Turkey's President has accused Gulen's supporters of running a parallel state and attempting to topple the government.

Gulen has been living in the United States since 1999.

The 75-year old and Erdogan had shared a political alliance until 3-years ago when a wide-ranging corruption scandal erupted among members of Erdogan's ruling AK Party.

Erdogan accused Gulen of trying to undermine his party, subsequently removing Gulen supporters from key positions in the military, police and media.

Observers are suggesting the political affiliations of the roughly 28-hundred soldiers currently being detained as part of the coup are likely to be heavily scrutinized as the investigation moves forward.