WATCH: Was the coup in Turkey staged?

U.S.-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, blamed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the failed coup in his native country, has suggested that the putsch may have been staged by the government.

“In my opinion, how the incident took place is not like a coup. It is more like a sham,” Gulen, whom Erdogan is demanding be extradited to Turkey, says. He provides several convincing reasons for this suspicion, stressing, however, that he cannot say for certain, as doing so would be an “imputation.”

Fethullah Gulen