BEIRUT // The failed coup in Turkey is threatening to undermine its ties with the United States after president Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused a US-based cleric of being behind the attempted takeover.
Washington was quick to condemn the coup attempt and voice support for Turkey's government, but Mr Erdogan has suggested it was at fault for not acting on his warnings about Fethullah Gulen, a bitter rival who has lived in the US since 1999.
"I had told you to deport this person or give this person back to Turkey," Mr Erdogan on Saturday. "I had told you that this person was in preparation for a coup against Turkey, but I could not make you listen to me."
Mr Erdogan's prime minister, Binali Yildirim, went a step further, saying any country that "stands by" Mr Gulen would be "no friend" and at war with Turkey.
US secretary of state John Kerry said on Sunday he had urged Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavosoglu to present Washington with evidence against Mr Gulen, but has also warned Ankara against making accusations.
"Public insinuations or claims about any role by the United States in the failed coup attempt are utterly false and harmful to our bilateral relations," Mr Kerry told Mr Cavosoglu in a phone call on Saturday.
Turkey has been calling for Mr Gulen's extradition since a corruption scandal that shook Mr Erdogan's government in 2013. The then prime minister accused followers of Mr Gulen, until then a close ally, of being behind wiretaps and leaks that led to corruption charges against senior figures in his government.
The Islamic preacher heads a movement called Hizmet (service) that has set up schools in Turkey and across the world and has many influential followers. His supporters in Turkey include heads of media conglomerates, banks and other businesses. Since Friday night's coup attempt, the Turkish government has imprisoned thousands of judges and soldiers they say are associated with the coup and the movement.
Since the falling out between Mr Gulen and Mr Erdogan, Turkish authorities have frequently arrested people accused of being supporters of Mr Gulen and Hizmet has been declared a terrorist group.
Mr Gulen, who lives a very private life at the Golden Generation Worship and Retreat Centre, a 10-hectare compound in rural Pennsylvania, invited journalists to his home for a rare interview on Saturday to counter the accusations made by the Turkish government. He denied any role in the coup attempt and suggested it might be an inside job meant to increase Mr Erdogan's power.
"There is a slight chance, there is a possibility that it could have been a staged coup," he said. "It could be meant for court accusations and associations."
The Turkish government has so far arrested 6,000 people over the attempted coup and insists the plotters were part of Mr Gulen's organisation. But little evidence has been presented to the public.
While Mr Erdogan says the US ignored his calls for Mr Gulen's extradition before the coup attempt, his government does not appear to have followed proper procedure.
"If they want to extradite him, they have to go through the proper legal channels to do so and they've fallen short thus far," said Aaron Stein, a Turkey expert at the Washington-based Atlantic Council.
However, if Turkey does go through the legal process of trying to get Mr Gulen extradited, "turning down the request for extradition would seriously damage the US' image among the AKP supporters, among AKP rank and file and among lots of segments of the population who dislike this man", he said.
Mr Gulen is not the only source of friction between the Washington and Ankara of late.
Turkey has also protested against US backing of the Kurdish YPG force fighting ISIL in Syria, citing its links to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, with which Turkey is at war. Like the PKK, Ankara considers the YPG a terrorist group and has repeatedly threatened action against it. Several suicide bombings in Turkey this year have been blamed on YPG members or people affiliated with the group.
The US has tried to tread carefully on the issue. The YPG hosts US special forces troops and is considered the most effective ally on the ground in Syria against ISIL. But the US also needs Turkey's Incirlik airbase as a launching pad for strikes against ISIL in Syria and Iraq.
In February, Mr Erdogan's chief adviser warned that permission for the US to use Incirlik could be revoked over its continued support of the YPG.
US operations at the airbase resumed on Sunday after being halted on Saturday at Turkey's request, the Pentagon said. Power to the base was cut off on Saturday and local authorities were not permitting US personnel to move on or off the base, the American embassy in Ankara said.
It remains unclear whether the temporary shutdown of US operations was purely a security measure or an attempt to further pressure Washington over Mr Gulen. Turkish authorities arrested the Turkish commander of the base on Sunday, saying he was complicit in the coup attempt.
In another potential source of friction, the US federal aviation administration on Saturday barred private and commercial flights between the two countries citing the security situation. The move has forced Turkey's flag carrier Turkish Airlines to temporarily cancel flights to its nine US destinations.
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