US relations have been complicated by that fight, in which Washington backs the Syrian Kurdish YPG rebels against Islamic State.
Advertisement
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan (R) and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden chat after their meeting in Istanbul, Turkey January 23, 2016.
Turkey claims the coup was organized by the Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who has lived in Pennsylvania in self-imposed exile for 17 years.
In a New York Times interview, Trump outlined a sharp break in USA foreign policy tradition, suggesting the U.S. wouldn’t defend North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies like the Baltic states against Russian aggression if they haven’t “fulfilled their obligation to us”.
However, the United States insists that the cleric would only be extradited following legal procedures according to relevant legislature and treaties.
The spokesperson said once the USA makes a full assessment of the documents, it will make a determination on the extradition case.
Through the nearly eight years of the Obama administration, Biden has been the president’s go-between with Erdogan, who was Turkey’s prime minister for more than a decade before becoming president in 2014.
“People have an expectation that Gulen should be returned to Turkey immediately”, said Gulnur Aybet, who teaches global relations at Turkey’s Bahcesehir University. Turkey says those institutions were infiltrated by Gulen’s followers years ago in a bid to take over the state.
USA officials, who briefed reporters ahead of Biden’s trip on condition of anonymity, said Tuesday’s talks in Ankara involved a Justice Department team assigned to consider the technical requirements of Turkey’s extradition request. Gulnur Aybet from Bahcesehir University. Around 50 people, like Mumbai businessman Ashfaque Ahmed (26) and his two cousins, have already left the country.
Turkey turning to Russian Federation is the last thing Washington wants to see.
Instead, he’ll try to convey that the US still needs and values Turkey, even amid worrying signs that the USA and Turkish approaches to the region’s conflicts may be diverging.
Early this month, President Erdogan shook hands with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
Erdogan has complained about what he sees as insensitivity from the West, saying Western countries have expressed more concern over the post-coup crackdown than the coup itself and Western leaders have been slow to voice support.
Advertisement
“Clearly President Erdogan is sending a message by getting closer to Russian Federation and Iran that he’s unhappy with the attitude of the West”, said Bulent Aliriza, a Turkey analyst at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. The rebels used 35 planes, 37 helicopters, 246 tanks and three vessels during the military coup attempt in Turkey. The US may quickly find itself in an awkward position if their investigation can’t undercover at least some pretext to back the Turkish allegations.
