After Turkey’s public criticism of the USA and its threats, the country submitted a formal request to the United States today, demanding that exiled cleric, Fetullah Gulen, be extradited as Turkey blames him for planning last month’s failed coup attempt.
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Turkish police raided offices at three Istanbul courthouses on Monday after detention warrants were issued for 173 judicial personnel as part of an investigation into last month’s failed coup attempt, the private Dogan news agency reported on Monday. Ankara alleges Gulen was responsible for the violent coup attempt that left over 270 people dead.
Biden’s visit on August 24 will be the first by a high-ranking US official since the failed coup there.
Turkey nearly immediately increased pressure for the extradition from the USA of Mr Gulen, a former ally of Mr Erdogan who runs an influential network of worldwide schools outside Turkey. The United States has said that it must have evidence against Gulen the cleric in order to justify turning him over to Turkey.
A delegation from the US Justice Department will also arrive on August 22 to discuss the extradition.
The footballer denied having fled to the United States in the insult case, saying he moved there, rather than running away.
The moves are part of the government’s ongoing investigation into the movement led by US -based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen.
Erdogan has said the purge is needed to wipe out what he calls the “virus” of Gulen from Turkish institutions.
“If a tenth of the accusations against me are established, I pledge to return to Turkey and serve the heaviest sentence”, he said in an opinion piece in French daily Le Monde.
A section of the Turkish military attempted a coup in July 16.
Yildirim said a total of 81,494 people including judges, soldiers and civil servants have either been suspended or sacked since the July 15 abortive putsch.
“Even if the shock absorber of a vehicle breaks down, they say someone with [the Gulenists] has done this”.
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After football, Sukur went into politics and was in 2011 elected to parliament for President Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Party.
