ISTANBUL (Reuters) – The head of Turkey’s Diyanet religious authority denied on Friday that any of its imams had ever been involved in illegal activities and said investigations into them over alleged espionage had defamed the organisation.

Mehmet Gormez was speaking after German police on Wednesday raided the apartments of four imams suspected of spying for Turkey’s government on followers of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, accused by Ankara of organising a failed coup last July.

MORE:   http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/turkey-s-religious-authority-denies-illegal-activity-by-imams-in-germany/42968872