Turkish prosecutors seeking up to 34-year sentence for president's rival Gulen - state news

Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen is pictured at his residence in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania September 24, 2013. REUTERS/Selahattin Sevi/Zaman Daily via Cihan News Agency/Files

ANKARA (Reuters) - A Turkish prosecutor is seeking a prison sentence of up to 34 years for a U.S.-based cleric and rival of President Tayyip Erdogan on charges including "forming and leading an armed organisation", the state-run Anadolu Agency said on Thursday. Erdogan accuses Fethullah Gulen and his followers of plotting a coup and operating a "parallel structure" in the ranks of the police, judiciary, media and education. In recent weeks, authorities have revived their investigations on companies linked to Gulen's religious movement, which blends conservative, Islamic values with a pro-Western outlook, and controls newspapers critical of the government. (Reporting by Daren Butler and Ece Toksabay; Writing by David Dolan)