Gulen and his followers say their movement promotes peace, education, moderate Islam, and democracy, not the violent overthrow of governments. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described the crackdown as necessary to oust Gulen sympathisers who, he said, had infiltrated the Government.
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European officials and rights groups have expressed concern over the crackdown while the human-rights group Amnesty International has reported cases of mistreatment of detainees. The cleric strongly denies that he ordered a coup and says he, in fact, strongly opposed it and said so at the time. “I would consider them to be betraying the nation. I would consider them to be disrespectful of my longtime ideas”, Gulen said in the interview, which was broadcast on Sunday.
Evidence against Gulen includes testimony from military chief General Hulusi Akar. It also blamed the USA for backing the coup and sought extradition of the cleric from the United States, which the latter refused to do. Following Kerry’s visit, Turkish Minister of Justice Bekir Bozdag and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu will leave for the United States and demand Gulen’s extradition.
Another part of the message reads: “In response to questions about the coup attempt, one must demonstrate a democratic attitude and make it clear that one was neither directly nor indirectly supportive of the coup”. He left Turkey in 1999, and is now living in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania. But when it comes to the extradition request, they emphasise the need for evidence that would directly link the cleric to the failed coup and would stand up in a USA court.
Russians, on the other hand, have also found a much-needed ally in Turkey.
A number of countries like Germany and Austria took on Turkey on strong terms and there were suggestions to throw Turkey out of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and end the talks over the latter’s accession to the European Union and these fractures were more than an opportunity for Russian Federation to undermine the cohesiveness between the West and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation to its own advantage. U.S. fighter jets have been using Turkey’s southern base of Incirlik as a crucial launch point for lethal raids against IS targets in neighbouring Syria. “And for these reasons, we believe that Mr. Gulen should not and will not be extradited”, Weingarten said.
Turkey is seeking extradition of Gulen from the United States, where he is receiving medical treatment.
“Evidence matters and due process matters”, Reid Weingarten, one of the attorneys, told reporters in Washington on Friday.
Tanks move into position as Turkish people attempt to stop them, in Ankara, Turkey, July 15, 2016. Turkey implemented judicial reforms as part of its now-defunct bid to join the European Union, but global legal experts have warned of increasing political interference in the courts.
Under the US-Turkish extradition treaty, a country can bar extradition if it “concludes that the request for extradition has, in fact, been made to prosecute or punish the person sought for an offense of a political character or on account of his political opinions”.
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Mr Strache said he saw parallels in Erdogan’s use of the July 15 coup by a faction within the Turkish armed forces to crack down on his opponents in the army, civil service, academia and the media.
