U.S. slams Turkish press accusation against U.S. think tank

The allegation in Turkish press that the Washington-based think tank Wilson Center was behind a failed coup in Turkey is "absolutely not helpful," the State Department said Tuesday.

"I think this sort of conspiracy theory, inflammatory rhetoric ... is absolutely not helpful," State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau told a regular press briefing. "Conspiracy theories get us nowhere."

The failed coup attempt in Turkey last month has left more than 200 people dead and the authorities have since detained more than 18,000 people.

Pro-government Turkish newspapers have implicated a group of academics who were attending a conference organized by the Wilson Center on the island of Buyukada near Istanbul at the time of the coup.

"There was nothing clandestine or sinister about the conference, which brought together specialists on Iran, Turkey, and the Middle East," Haleh Esfandiari, a senior scholar at the Woodrow Wilson, wrote in an article published Tuesday on The Wall Street Journal.

Turkish authorities have accused U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen of orchestrating the coup attempt in coordination with a faction within the military.

An Istanbul court recently issued an arrest warrant for Gulen over his suspected role in the coup attempt, and Turkey has already sent its request to the United States to extradite Gulen.

Turkey-U.S. ties were strained by the failed coup amid Turkey's indication of U.S. involvement in it.

U.S. President Barack Obama last month denied any involvement in the coup attempt in Turkey.

Turkey, a NATO ally for the United States, is a major member of the U.S.-led coalition in the fight against the Islamic State terrorist group. Endi