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US-TURKEY-DIPLOMACY-GULEN
Turkey requests extradition of 84 members of cleric’s movement
WASHINGTON, Nov 21, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut
Cavusoglu on Tuesday gave US officials a list of 84 members of Fethullah
Gulen’s movement — including the cleric himself — whose extradition Ankara
is requesting.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blames Gulen — whom he once
regarded as an ally — for the July 15, 2016 failed coup plot against him,
but calls for his extradition have so far been unsuccessful.
Turkey’s chief diplomat said he did not receive any “assurances” after
meeting with his American counterpart Mike Pompeo and national security
advisor John Bolton during a visit to Washington.
“But we have given this list of the people that we request the US to
extradite,” Cavusoglu said.
President Donald Trump “asked Erdogan to send that list and I gave that
list to both Pompeo and ambassador Bolton,” he said.
Trump said Saturday that he had no plans to extradite Gulen, who strongly
denies any involvement in the coup attempt.
“It’s not under consideration,” Trump told reporters, while also saying
that Erdogan is “a friend of mine. He’s a strong man, a tough man and a smart
man, so whatever we can do, we’ll do… but at this point? No.”
US-Turkish relations have recently been strained, but they warmed up after
Ankara’s release in October of American pastor Andrew Brunson.
The fate of Gulen remains a central point of tension between the countries.
NBC News has reported that the White House was seeking ways to extradite
Gulen in a bid to reduce Turkish pressure on Saudi Arabia over the murder of
dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed in the kingdom’s
consulate in Istanbul.
Following his disappearance on October 2, Turkish officials kept up a
steady stream of leaks on the gory details of Khashoggi’s killing, even as
Saudi Arabia denied involvement. The kingdom eventually branded the murder a
“rogue” operation.
BSS/AFP/SSS/0844 hrs