ANKARA, August 20. /TASS/. Turkey’s Prime Minister Binali Yildirim has called on the United States to speed up the extradition process for Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, suspected of being the mastermind behind last month’s failed coup in Turkey, the Daily Sabah newspaper reported on Saturday.

"We want the process to be accelerated ... this man was the leader of the coup. What are we waiting for? The agreement between the two countries is clear," the newspaper quoted the prime minister as saying.

Washington says at the moment it has not received any official evidence from Ankara that Gulen was involved in the preparation of the failed coup. The US administration tends to reject Turkey’s extradition request for the opposition figure.

A group of insurgents attempted to stage a coup in Turkey overnight on July 16. The capital Ankara and the country's largest city, Istanbul, turned into the main scenes of the standoff. The Turkish authorities declared a three-month state of emergency on July 21 to neutralize the threats posed by putschists. More than 240 people were killed and over 2,000 others wounded.

Ankara says Gulen, who has been residing in the United States since 1999, was behind the events.