Turkey says Trump working on extraditing wanted cleric Gulen

Turkey says Trump working on extraditing wanted cleric Gulen
FILE PHOTO: U.S.-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen at his home in Pennsylvania, U.S., July 10, 2017. REUTERS/Charles Mostoller/File Photo Copyright Charles Mostoller(Reuters)
By Reuters
Share this articleComments
Share this articleClose Button

DOHA (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump has told his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan that Washington is working on extraditing a U.S.-based Muslim cleric accused of orchestrating a failed Turkish coup in 2016, Turkey's foreign minister said on Sunday.

"In Argentina, Trump told Erdogan they were working on extraditing (Fethullah) Gulen and other people," Mevlut Cavusoglu said, referring to the G20 summit where the leaders met two weeks ago.

Turkey has long sought the extradition of Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed U.S. exile for nearly two decades. A former ally of Erdogan, he is blamed by Turkish authorities for the failed coup when rogue soldiers commandeered tanks and helicopters, attacked parliament and shot unarmed civilians.

Gulen denies any involvement in the failed putsch. Trump said last month he was not considering extraditing the preacher as part of efforts to ease Turkish pressure on Saudi Arabia over the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul.

Erdogan said last week Turkey would start new initiatives abroad to target the financing of Gulen supporters.

"I have recently seen a credible probe by the FBI on how the Gulen organisation avoids taxes," Cavusoglu told a conference in Doha.

(Reporting by Dmitry Zhdannikov; Writing by Maher Chmaytelli; Editing by Mark Potter)

Share this articleComments

You might also like

UK ‘bases of death’ in Cyprus see controversy amid Middle East conflicts

President of Azerbaijan sweeps election - exit polls

Netanyahu "will not compromise on full Israeli control" over post-war Gaza