John Kerry says Turkey should ‘not go beyond the rule of law’

US Secretary of State John Kerry has warned that Turkey should "not go beyond the rule of law" as it deals with the aftermath of Friday's failed military coup, as he reacted to the weekend events that left at least 300 people dead and thousands more under arrest.

Speaking in Brussels where EU foreign ministers are gathering for a scheduled meeting, Mr Kerry said that Washington had received no request from Ankara to extradite Fetullah Gulen, the Islamic cleric and former ally of Turkish president Recep Erdogan, who is living in exile in Pennsylvania.

While Mr Gulen has denied any involvement with the weekend coup, President Erdogan has said he should be extradited from the US.

The issue threatens to inflame tensions between Washington and Ankara in the wake of the Friday night incident.

The dramatic events in Turkey are expected to overshadow today's scheduled meeting of EU foreign ministers which is being attended by Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan.

Ahead of the meeting, EU ministers struck a cautious tone as they responded to the events in Turkey.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said that Turkey's "democratic and legitimate institutions need to be protected."

But she added: “This does not mean obviously that the rule of law and the system of checks and balances in the country does not count. On the contrary it needs to be protected for the sake of the country itself…We will send a strong message on that.”

EU and world leaders have broadly backed Mr Erdogan’s government in the wake of the failed weekend coup, calling for the legitimacy of Turkey’s democratically-elected government to be respected.

But there is growing unease that a backlash from Erdogan’s government could breach democratic standards, a development which would almost certainly undermine the EU’s promise of visa-free travel for Turkey, a key part of the EU-Turkey migration deal.

Turkish officials say that nearly 8,000 police officers have been suspended while some 6,000 members of the judiciary and the military were detained at the weekend following the military coup.

Eight Turkish military officers who flew to Greece on Saturday morning will appear in court today in the Greek city of Alexandropouli near the Turkish border.

Arriving for his first EU foreign ministers meeting since his appointment as British foreign secretary last week, Boris Johnson called for "restraint and moderation on all sides" in Turkey following the coup.

Mr Johnson, whose arrival in Brussels on Sunday night was delayed for several hours after his plane was forced to make an emergency landing at Luton Airport, said that Britain would be in no sense leaving Europe, despite last month's decision to leave the European Union.

The government must “give effect to the will of the people and leave the European Union,” he said.

“But that in no sense means that we are leaving Europe. We are not going to be in any way abandoning our leading role in European co-operation and participation of all kinds.”

French foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault condemned the failed coup in Turkey, saying that a military coup was not acceptable.

But he added “at the same time, we have to be vigilant that the Turkish authorities do not put in place a political system that could derail democracy. Turkey has made many advances, a lot of progress and many reforms over the past few years.”