U.S. envoy to Ankara rejects suggestions U.S. backed abortive coup in Turkey

John Bass, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey, said on Monday media reports and comments by public figures that Washington backed an attempted coup were "categorically untrue" and such speculation harmed the NATO allies' friendship. President Tayyip Erdogan and other Turkish officials have blamed the Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen, who lives in Pennyslvania in self-imposed exile, of orchestrating the July 15 coup attempt that killed more than 200 people. Bass said in a statement posted on the embas