U.S. Vice President Biden to visit Turkey on Aug. 24 - PM

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden speaks during a memorial service for three slain Baton Rouge police officers at Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S. July 28, 2016. REUTERS/Jonathan Bachman

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden is to visit Turkey on August 24, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim was quoted as saying by Turkish media on Saturday. Yildirim, speaking to a group of Turkish journalists, said that Washington's attitude on an extradition request for Fethullah Gulen, blamed by Ankara for orchestrating an attempted coup last month, had improved. Yildirim said a total of 81,494 people including judges, soldiers and civil servants have either been suspended or sacked since the July 15 abortive putsch. (Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Richard Balmforth)