He delivered messages condemning the coup and stressing the importance of Turkey’s contributions to the fight against the Islamic State group and as a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally.
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The fallout from the abortive coup on July 15, in which more than 230 people died as mutinous soldiers commandeered fighter jets, helicopters and tanks, has deepened a rift between Ankara and its Western allies.
It has repeatedly claimed that overwhelming evidence exists linking Gulen to the coup attempt on July 15, including confessions and retrieved written communications by high-ranking military officials involved in the coup that they were acting on Gulen’s orders.
“I would consider them to be betraying the nation. So they actually infiltrated nerve endings of our state”, he said, adding that all data and indicators point to FETO as being behind the crisis.
Several other military officers admitted loyalties to Gulen, according to testimony published in Turkish news media.
“I’m calling on the United States: what kind of strategic partners are we, that you can still host someone whose extradition I have asked for?” It was not immediately clear if any suspects had been arrested.
Isik said 311 military personnel believed to have participated in the coup were still on the run including nine generals. “Given the recent reports in the last two weeks, that’s got to be a real concern in this case”, said Jens David Ohlin, an global law expert at Cornell Law School in Ithaca, New York. President Barack Obama has said Washington will only extradite him if Turkey provides evidence of wrongdoing.
Turkey has sent documents to the United States and is preparing a formal extradition request.
He and three other Turkish lawmakers have been meeting US officials at the Justice Department, the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department.
Ahead of the meetings, US joint staff spokesman Capt. Greg Hicks said Dunford would “deliver messages condemning in the strongest terms the recent coup attempt”.
Turkey and its economy are stronger than before a recent deadly coup attempt, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said late Monday.
The State Department spokesman insisted that despite Erdogan’s increasingly provocative comments, “what matters is the partnership with Turkey is going forward”.
Part of the crackdown against Gulen’s network has focused on reforming the military, bringing it increasingly under civilian command.
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The EU rebuked the accusation stressing that Mogherini had clearly condemned the coup, expressed her support for the country’s democratically-elected institutions, and has since been in close contact with Turkish authorities, including with its foreign minister.
