TURKISH Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag was slapped down by the presidency yesterday after he boasted that Ankara has snatched 80 Turkish exiles suspected of involvement in the unsuccessful 2016 coup.

Mr Bozdag told Haberturk television that the National Intelligence Agency had "bundled up and brought back" people from no fewer than 18 countries.

His boast followed the secretly arranged deportation from Kosovo of six Turks, five teachers and a doctor, accused of supporting the coup attempt linked to US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen.

Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj was livid at being kept in the dark about the deportation, sacking his interior minister and head of intelligence for not keeping him informed.

Mr Bozdag declared that similar operations would continue.

Presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin denied that the suspects were abducted from Kosovo through illegal operations, insisting that the transaction was done “within the framework of an agreement on the return of criminals.”