YEREVAN. – Fethullah Gülen had nothing to do with the recent military coup attempt in Turkey.

Director of the Institute of Orientology of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, turkologist Ruben Safrastyan, stated the abovementioned at a press conference on Wednesday.

In his words, however, there were colonels who support the Gülen movement, a liberal Islamic transnational religious and social movement led by Turkish Islamic theologian and preacher Fethullah Gülen, who now resides in the US. 

“But I don’t think that Gülen was leading the coup attempt,” added Safrastyan. “The coup attempt was a self-defense attempt by the [Turkish] military, since there is information that [President Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan was going to convene a Supreme Military Council meeting, and many senior officials were to lose their posts, or be arrested.”

Turkish authorities accuse Gülen of orchestrating this coup attempt.

A group of military servicemen attempted a coup in Turkey, from late night on July 15 to early morning on July 16, but it failed.

According to Turkish authorities, 290 people died in the ensuing clashes.

As per numerous analysts, however, this coup attempt could have been planned by President Erdoğan himself, to start a large-scale repression in Turkey.