“It is at best an unfortunate statement for a United Nations official tasked with guarding human rights to say “he has no sympathy” for coup plotters instead of condemning these terrorists who have attempted a bloody coup”, Bilgic said.
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In keeping with Erdogan’s tough line on Gulen, Yildirim told reporters there would be no compromise apart from “this chief terrorist coming to Turkey and being prosecuted”, according to Anadolu agency.
The United States has replied that it must have evidence against the cleric, who is a former ally of the president, in order to justify turning him over to Turkey.
The request has been submitted to Turkey’s Justice Ministry for it to be relayed to U.S. authorities, Anadolu said.
Biden’s visit on August 24 will be the first by a high-ranking USA official since the failed coup there.
The raid on the Palace of Justice was a powerful symbol of a post-coup crackdown that has purged Turkey’s military, law-and-order, education and justice systems since the failed putsch.
He has been living in self-imposed exile in the USA since 1999 in a compound owned by his movement in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania.
Turkey nearly immediately increased pressure for the extradition from the U.S. of Mr Gulen, a former ally of Mr Erdogan who runs an influential network of global schools outside Turkey.
People gather on top of an army tank at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport during the early-morning hours of July 16, following a coup attempt in Turkey that ultimately killed at least 270 people.
Yildirim told reporters in Ankara his government has not backed down from demands the USA government hand over Fethullah Gulen, a former Erdogan ally who lives in Pennsylvania and runs a series of influential Muslim schools outside Turkey.
Erdogan’s critics say he could use the purge to crack down broadly on dissent.
“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.
Ankara has repeatedly said the July 15 coup attempt was organized by followers of Gulen and his FETO group.
Tens of thousands more have been suspended from their jobs.
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Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Tanju Bilgic, in a statement, said Zeid’s comments were unacceptable. Turkish officials say they are confronting an internal threat.
