VALLETTA, Malta, July 5, 2018 (News Wires) — Norway says the number of asylum seekers from Turkey has increased noticeably in recent weeks, and officials say it will take time to process them because Oslo needs to check other countries' practices in similar cases. Frode Forfang, head of Norway's Directorate of Immigration, says many have claimed political persecution at home because of links to U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is blamed by Turkey for the 2016 failed coup. The agency said that 245 Turkish nationals have sought shelter in Norway so far in 2018, including 142 arriving in June. That compares to a total of 164 Turkish nationals who sought asylum in Norway in 2017. The agency offered no explanation for the June increase. Forfang said Thursday that "most of them" have been granted protection in the past.