webfact Posted December 19, 2018 Share Posted December 19, 2018 Trump willing to look at extraditing Turkish cleric, but noncommittal By Jeff Mason FILE PHOTO: U.S.-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen at his home in Pennsylvania, U.S., July 10, 2017. REUTERS/Charles Mostoller/File Photo WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump told his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan that Washington "would take a look at" the possibility of extraditing a U.S.-based Muslim cleric who Ankara suspects of being behind a 2016 coup attempt, but he made no commitment, the White House said on Tuesday. "The only thing he said is that we would take a look at it," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters. "Nothing further at this point beyond that ... nothing committal at all in that process." Turkey's foreign minister said on Sunday that Trump told Erdogan that Washington was working on extraditing the cleric, Fethullah Gulen, a former Erdogan ally who has lived in self-imposed U.S. exile for nearly two decades. Asked about the comment on Monday, another White House official said only that Trump did not commit to extraditing Gulen when he spoke to Erdogan at the Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires last month. The official offered no further detail on the conversation. Turkish officials blame Gulen for a failed coup in Turkey in which rogue soldiers attacked parliament and shot unarmed civilians. Gulen denies any involvement. The extradition of Gulen is just one of several issues that have strained the relationship between the two countries. The United States and Turkey, NATO allies, have gone through a rough patch in 2018, exacerbated by the Turkish detention of a U.S. pastor. Turkey's release of the pastor, Andrew Brunson, was a "tremendous step" toward improved relations, Trump said in October, while denying he made a deal with Ankara for the move. But tensions flared again last week over the two countries' positions on Syria. The Pentagon warned that unilateral military action into northeast Syria by any party would be "unacceptable," after Turkey said it would launch a new military operation in the region. Trump said last month he was not considering extraditing Gulen as part of efforts to ease Turkish pressure on Saudi Arabia over the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul. (Reporting by Jeff Mason; Additional reporting by Tim Ahmann; Editing by Mary Milliken and Leslie Adler) -- © Copyright Reuters 2018-12-19 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtls2005 Posted December 19, 2018 Share Posted December 19, 2018 Maybe just hold an auction? See how much defense kit erdogan is willing to "bid"? While Gulen has a significant number of supporters in Turkey, I just can't figure out why erdogan and trump want to go the mat on this one? Guessing they tried to lure him to a third countries "consulate" for a de-boning but that failed? 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Chomper Higgot Posted December 19, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted December 19, 2018 (edited) This, you will recall, is the same Turkish cleric Flynn was caught trying to kidnap and ‘spirit’ back to Turkey: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/nov/10/michael-flynn-trump-turkish-dissident-cleric-plot Flynn cut a deal with Mueller So Mueller has all the details on what is going on here and who is involved. In the light of that Trump even going near this guy raises some serious questions as to why he’s willing (or needs) to take the risk of getting involved with the expulsion of a man who Flynn tried to illegally remove to Turkey. Edited December 19, 2018 by Chomper Higgot 4 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtls2005 Posted December 19, 2018 Share Posted December 19, 2018 10 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said: This, you will recall, is the same Turkish cleric Flynn was caught trying to kidnap and ‘spirit’ back to Turkey: For a $ 15 million "consulting" fee. Amazed Erik Prince wasn't involved? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DM07 Posted December 19, 2018 Share Posted December 19, 2018 He has little problems with his #$%@- buddies killing a critical journalist, so why should he have a problem here? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tug Posted December 19, 2018 Share Posted December 19, 2018 What’s in it for Donald? 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post rudi49jr Posted December 19, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted December 19, 2018 Trump would be willing to look into literally anything and everything if there was something in it for him 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post candide Posted December 19, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted December 19, 2018 With the Flynn case under the the light, one would think the best tactic would be to remain silent... but he is totally unable to shut up his big gob! 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedrogaz Posted December 19, 2018 Share Posted December 19, 2018 Well at least this has shut up Erdogan.....he has been drips feeding the world evidence about Kashoggi's death....that has now dried up as Trump has offered to extradite Gulen but of course Trump won't do any such thing. Good to know that Trump is protecting his best buddy, MbS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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