Without going into the details of the process, the State Department said evaluating the evidence that is presented by Turkey took time and was not an overnight process – although it has been nearly 20 days since the first documents were received by the U.S.
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Turkey, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation alliance, hosts American troops and warplanes at Incirlik Air Base, an important staging area for the US -led fight against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
A court in Turkey issued a formal warrant Thursday for the arrest of US -based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who the government accuses of being behind the failed July 15 coup that left more than 270 people dead.
Turkey has accused Gulen of running a “parallel state” and staging the coup attempt through its supporters in the army – which the reclusive cleric vehemently denies. Erdogan said the Gulen “virus” spread everywhere and vowed to cleanse the state from the movement. “The bluster, the conspiracy theories and the threats of Mr. Erdogan are not strong enough to overwhelm the American legal system”. Turkish security forces have reportedly arrested a German woman on suspicion of belonging to the Gulen movement, Deutsche Welle reported.
Yardim noted the meeting would stimulate the implementation of energy projects between the two countries, including the Turkish stream natural gas pipeline and the Akkuyu nuclear power plant.
Since the coup attempt, almost 70,000 people suspected of links to Gulen have been suspended or dismissed from the military, civil service and judiciary, and from the education and health care sectors.
Germany’s foreign ministry confirmed the accuracy of the Sueddeutsche Zeitung report to AFP, without giving details.
Turkey blames followers of the US -based preacher Fethullah Gulen for trying to overthrow Erdogan on July 15.
“They (Gulenists) have 33 schools in Kazakhstan”.
The US Department of Justice will send a technical delegation to Ankara in connection with Turkey’s request to extradite Fethullah Gulen, Milliyet newspaper reported.
Nazarbayev said about 90 percent of the teachers at the schools are Kazakh citizens, and 8 to 9 percent are Turkish nationals. 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 U.S. court. Cavusoglu also said it is possible that Vice President Joe Biden will make a separate visit.
Twelve out of 14 journalist suspects from the Zaman daily were remanded in custody, Anadolu reported on Friday, less than a week after six others were arrested. Bekir Bozdag told reporters Turkey made the request after a demand for Gulen’s extradition had been made on July 19. “One of the trends that is an enemy of human rights and values is racism and today Austria is the capital of radical racism”, he said.
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Turkey is a crucial military ally of the United States, and the country has been upping pressure on Washington to hand over Gulen to be tried at home.
