Ankara claims he masterminded the July 15 coup attempt.
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A group of Turkish parliamentarians continued Wednesday to pressure the US administration to extradite Fetullah Gulen, leader of Fetullah Terror Organization’s (FETO) and mastermind of the failed coup attempt last month.
He added: “We subsequently received more documents”.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has blasted Western allies for what he says is a lack of clear support for the government in the wake of the failed putsch. On Wednesday, he accused the West of siding with terrorism and complained that no European leaders had visited Turkey to express solidarity after the coup. Turkey is a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally and the US has condemned the coup attempt.
“We did not see this structure had insidious plans”, Erdogan said, dismissing Gulen as the “charlatan in Pennsylvania”, where he has lived in self-imposed exile since 1999.
Gulen strongly denies any involvement and the movement he leads insists it is a charitable network promoting tolerant Islam.
The coup “was outrageous”. “This should be clearly recognized”. If that proves to be the case, the extradition will not go forward and by all indications will elevate into a major diplomatic incident between the United States and Turkey.
He said that there have been federal investigations of Gulen’s movement and enterprises associated with him, and that there is evidence he is not “some pastoral imam” but someone very involved in business and politics.
Erdogan’s government alleges that the failed coup attempt against him earlier this month was planned by Gulen supporters within the military.
Turkey has said the coup could cost its economy up to $100 billion ($89 billion euros) overall. Meanwhile, a group of servicemen announced about transition of power to them.
The president said the purge of the military would continue as the arrests made so far were “just the tip of the iceberg”.
A probe was launched into Gulen on the legal grounds that “organization executives are sentenced as perpetrators due to all crimes committed within the frame of organization’s activities”, according to the ruling.
But since then, the “crazy allegations” against Gulen have only increased, said Reid Weingarten, a powerful Washington defense lawyer with Steptoe & Johnson, the firm serving as the cleric’s counsel.
More specifically, Anadolu said the court based the arrest warrant on accusations that the coup plotters tried to assassinate Erdogan, kidnapped Chief of Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar and other military officers, bombed parliament, and killed police officers and civilians who resisted.
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The issue has soured the two countries’ relations. “This cancer is different, this virus has spread everywhere”, Erdogan said in a speech at the presidential palace to the heads of chambers of commerce and bourses.
