DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) – Turkish Americans in the Miami Valley came together Saturday to speak out against the failed military coup. Turkish Americans meeting in Dayton say they want peace restored in their county. And they want to know that anyone involved in the coup, will be held responsible. “We need unity among our community,” Turkish American Community Center President Islom Shakhbandarov said. “We need solidarity among our community.

US-Turkish tensions have grown after government forces put down an attempted coup on Friday night. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused exiled Turkish businessman and cleric Fethullah Gulen of orchestrating the violence and is demanding that the US extradite him. Gulen, who lives in Pennsylvania, denied any involvement and condemned the coup attempt.

By Brandon Turbeville - mintpressnews.com - Protesters hold a giant Turkish flag as they gather in Taksim Square in Istanbul, Monday, July 18, 2016. Turkey's Interior Ministry has fired nearly 9,000 police officers, bureaucrats and others and detained thousands of suspected plotters following a foiled coup against the government, Turkey's state-run news agency reported Monday. Protesters hold a giant Turkish flag as they gather in Taksim Square in Istanbul, Monday, July 18, 2016. Turkey’s Interior Ministry has fired nearly 9,000 police officers, bureaucrats and others and detained thousands of suspected plotters following a foiled coup against the government, Turkey’s state-run news agency reported Monday.

The ’Splainer (as in, “You’ve got some ’splaining to do”) is an occasional feature in which RNS gives you everything you need to know about current events to help you hold your own at a cocktail party. (RNS) Turkey’s crackdown of those suspected in the failed July 15 military coup widens, with the firing of 492 people at its top Islamic authority. And Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is zeroing in on a Muslim cleric living in rural Pennsylvania, whom he accuses of masterminding the coup. Reclusive Turkish imam Fethullah Gulen, who lives in a gated compound in the Poconos, denies involvement and disavows violence. Erdogan is pressuring the U.S. to extradite Gulen, but Secretary of State John Kerry, rejecting insinuations that the U.S. was involved in the coup, said it awaits a formal extradition request and proof of Gulen’s involvement.