According to a U.S. aide, Biden, in a meeting with the Turkish Speaker İsmail Kahraman, said he “wish (ed) Gulen were in another country” but added in his meeting with Erdogan that the United States will abide by its system of extradition according to law and extradition treaties.
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It would not be surprising to see Erdogan, Yildirim, or other Turkish ministers mention that unfortunate state of affairs, the next time they urge the United States to speed up the 75-year-old Gulen’s extradition. “But we need to meet legal standard requirement under our law”, adding that it would be an “impeachable offense” for President Obama to deliver Gulen without going through the USA justice system. He toured the Turkish parliament building damaged in the July 15 violence, and USA officials say he will publicly and repeatedly voice support for Turkey and its leadership. Differences on Syria policy have been a difficulty for U.S. -Turkey relations.
In a press conference in Ankara after he arrived, Biden said the U.S.is prepared to drop its support of the Syrian Kurds unless they pulled back from Jarabulus, beyond the Euphrates River, which runs to the east of the town.
It was the first time warplanes from Turkey have struck in Syria since November, when Turkey downed a Russian warplane near the border, and the first significant incursion by Turkish special forces since a brief operation to relocate the tomb of Suleyman Shah, a revered Ottoman figure, in February 2015.
Biden declared that Turkey’s government has agreed to respect that complex legal process.
He added that “it would be impossible to send so much evidence on the coup attempt just days after it happened”.
Biden met today with Turkish officials in Ankara. “Vice President as well, have clearly and explicitly condemned the coup attempt”, Yildirim said, indicating he accepted the validity of their words.
Demands for the extradition of Fethullah Gulen, in exile since 1999, and Turkish perceptions of an unsympathetic Western response to the coup soured relations between the United States and Turkey, a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation partner in the USA -led war on Islamic State. He promised that Washington would work closely with the Turkish government on the case.
“This shows the matter is being taken seriously by the US”, he said. Around 40,000 people have been formally arrested for links to the coup.
Biden also praised Turkey for hosting 3 million refugees that have fled the conflicts in Syria and Iraq, noting that the effort has placed an enormous burden on the country. Instead, the main Syrian Kurdish faction, the YPG, said its troops had “returned to their bases” after helping liberate the northern Syrian city of Manbij from the Islamic State group earlier this month.
But he added that Ankara needed to produce more if it was going to ensure the extradition of Gulen.
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One US official said Biden’s trip was in part to correct the impression among some Turks that Washington somehow endorsed the attempted coup, and also make clear the US government understands the trauma of the putsch for Turkey.
