(VOVworld) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's spokesman on Tuesday rejected claims that the attempted coup was orchestrated to strengthen Mr. Erdogan’s position.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's spokesman Ibrahim Kalin (Photo: turkiyegazetesi.com.tr)

The state-run Anadolu news agency said around 15,000 people were fired from the Education Ministry including 1,600 university deans following the failed coup.

On Tuesday, Turkish authorities shut down all media outlets deemed to be supportive of cleric Fethullah Gulen, who they accused of orchestrating last week’s coup attempt. 34 journalists were stripped of their press cards.