Finland has seen a slight uptick in the numbers of Turkish asylum seekers this summer. Numbers are still small, however, and the Immigration service says that it might not be related to the failed coup and subsequent purge in Turkey.
Up to the end of July some 34 people had asked for asylum in Finland after leaving Turkey. Just last week eleven Turkish citizens filed asylum claims, representing almost a third of the number for the whole year.
Turkish émigré sources say that the group of asylum seekers in Finland include supporters of exiled cleric Fethullah Gülen, who Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan accuses of directing the putsch attempt.
Turkey is demanding that Gülen be extradited from the United States, where he currently lives, and has demanded that Germany surrender Gülenists living there.
After the coup failed the Turkish government closed schools, universities and other institutions, arrested journalists and thousands of other individuals it said were involved in the coup attempt.