Turkish Foreign Minister presses Pakistan on schools said linked to coup suspect

ISLAMABAD | BY ASAD HASHIM

Pakistan promised Turkey's visiting foreign minister on Tuesday it would investigate a network of schools Ankara wants shut for alleged links to the U.S.-based Muslim cleric it blames for last month's coup attempt.

However, foreign policy chief Sartaj Aziz stopped short of agreeing to close PakTurk International Schools and Colleges, which educates 10,000 students and denies any affiliation with the cleric.

The request by Turkey is part of an international campaign by President Tayyip Erdogan against the interests of Fethullah Gulen and his religious movement.

Erdogan and the Turkish authorities blame the cleric and his followers for orchestrating last month's failed military coup, in which more than 230 people were killed.

Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania, preaches Sunni Islam together with a message of interfaith dialogue.

He denies any involvement in the failed coup.

Since then, thousands of people have been detained, suspended from work or placed under investigation, with the government vowing to purge the army, police and judiciary of elements it says support Gulen.

In Islamabad, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Gulen's "terrorist group" should be stamped out.

"It is not secret that this organization has institutions or their presence in Pakistan and in many other countries," he said.

"I am sure the necessary measures will be taken. We have to be very careful with such organizations and their causing risk and threat for the security and stability of every country that they have presence."

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(Additional reporting by Mehreen Zahra-Malik; Writing by Kay Johnson; Editing by Robert Birsel)

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-pakistan-turkey-idUSKCN10D10P