Turkey is seeking the extradition of 32 diplomats who went on the run after they were recalled by Ankara as part of investigations into last month’s failed coup attempt, the foreign minister said yesterday.
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Turkey has complained about a lack of support from its Western allies over the attempted coup.
“And now they are moving towards co-operation on the issues of a region, which is important to all these three countries (Iran, Turkey and Syria)”, said Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister. Two generals captured in Dubai and another in Kuwait have been sent back.
Cakil had late last month revealed that the Turkish government had requested the closure of 17 school in Nigeria with links to the alleged mastermind of the botched coup plot, US-based Turk, Fetullah Gulen. “There are difficulties in determining those who are not directly involved with the organization, but we are doing our best to make no mistakes”, he said.
Gulen has repeatedly denied involvement in the coup attempt and rejected Turkish arrest warrants issued for him.
Prosecutors accused Sukur of “being a member of an armed terror group”, a reference to Gulen’s organisation.
“Extradition of Fetullah Gulen is not just an issue for Turkey or the US, but an issue the world is closely watching out for”, Bozdag said.
“Some of them escaped by sea, some of them escaped by air”, Cavusoglu said, adding that two of the diplomats based in Bangladesh fled to the United States. But he says Erdogan is using the purges to shore up his own power in Turkey.
“Everything is out in the open”.
“We sent 85 boxes of files”, he said, adding that he assumed the United States would not keep the cleric any longer, but “send him back”.
He likened Gulen’s followers to ISIS, which has repeatedly bombed targets within Turkey, and the Kurdish separatist movement PKK, which is listed as a terror organization by the US.
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The president’s remarks came as he addressed a mass crowd in front of the Presidential Palace in the capital – one of the locations attacked on the night of the coup attempt. The abortive coup and subsequent purge of the military have raised concern about the stability of Turkey, a member of the US -led coalition fighting Islamic State and which is battling an insurgency at home by Kurdish militants.
