Ankara calls for US to extradite ‘coup mastermind’

[webfact]

Ankara calls for US to extradite ‘coup mastermind’



Turkey prepares extradition request for Gulen
US says any extradition will be conducted according to treaty
Gulen denies involvement in coup

ANKARA: -- Turkey is sending an extradition request to the US for the cleric Fethullah Gulen.

He is the former ally turned critic of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who Ankara accuses of being the mastermind behind Friday’s coup.

In a statement, Gulen has urged the US government, “to reject any effort to abuse the extradition process to carry out political vendettas.”

Mark Toner of the US State Department said the process would be conducted according to the treaty between the two nations:

“This is not an overnight process that’s just not how these processes work, it is gonna take some time but we are going to standby the extradition treaty working in concordance with the extradition treaty.”

Double standards
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim has accused Washington, which has said it will consider Gulen’s extradition only if clear evidence is provided, of double standards in its fight against terrorism.

Yildirim said the justice ministry had sent a dossier to US authorities on Gulen, whose religious movement blends conservative Islamic values with a pro-Western outlook and who has a network of supporters within Turkey.

US State Department, Mark Toner has also denied Turkish accusations of US involvement in the attempted coup.

“It`s absurd to think that United States was somehow complicit or anyway connected to the events of Friday. (…) This is a NATO ally is a partner is a democratically elected government it is a strong democracy we stand with and stood with Turkey during that crisis.”

Gulen who lives in self imposed exile in Pennsylvania, admits having a large following in Turkey, but which Erdogan says amounts to a parallel state-cum-terrorist organisation within the country. Gulen has condemned the abortive coup and has denied any role in it.


-- (c) Copyright Euronews 2016-07-20

[MisterTee]

It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Despite Kerry's denials, the pointers are to Washington and Tel Aviv, and perhaps to Brussels as well.

Turkish top brass has long been known for its pro-NATO, pro-USA and pro-Israel sympathies. The coup leader, the Air Force commander General Akin Ozturk served as the military attache in Tel Aviv. Bekir Ercan Van, the commander of the Incirlik air base has been arrested after his request for political asylum in the US had been refused. If they had won they would have been applauded and feted in the West.

Yes, Virginia, there was a coup, and it failed.

[Kerryd]

I haven't "denied" anything. There was a coup attempt. A poorly planned and executed one. One that has played right into Erdogans hands and has allowed him to do mass "detentions" of any and everyone he thinks opposes him, whether or not they were involved in the coup attempt. He was also used it as an excuse to remove thousands of judges, teachers and bureaucrats that he suspects of possibly opposing him and he is able to do it without a whisper of protest. Had he of tried the same thing 2-3 weeks ago there would have been riots in the streets.

("Around 50,000 soldiers, police, judges, civil servants and teachers have been suspended or detained since the coup attempt, stirring tensions across the country of 80 million which borders Syria's chaos and is a Western ally against Islamic State.") http://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/erdogan-targets-more-than-50000-in-purge-after-failed-turkish-coup/ar-BButLII

If you want to point fingers at possible supporters of the coup, I'd suggest looking at Moscow first. Considering the bad blood between Putin and Erdogan and their distinctly different views on Syria, it would be of greater benefit to Russia to have Erdogan ousted than it would be to the USA or Israel or the EU/NATO.

[granuaile]

It will be a travesty if Gulen is extradited. Erdogan is using the coup as an excuse to clamp down EVEN MORE on dissidents and opponents of his theocratic fascism.

[Cats4ever]

I think there may be a touch of the Reichstag fire in this coup and aftermath.

[Jingthing]

Ignoring the conspiracy theory noise, especially the predictable blame everything on Israel crapola, I think the U.S. should simply follow the letter of U.S. law strictly, and if a strong case is made for extradition that meets U.S. law then extradite him. If not, don't, and explain how the case is too weak. Erdogan is a horrible leader but the U.S. may soon elect someone as bad (trump) and the U.S. has the death penalty so if they are sending Gulen to his death, that isn't a problem under U.S. law, that is if the case is strong enough.

Of course another way to look at it is that is holding on to Gulen worth destroying cooperation with Turkey to fight Daesh. I suppose taking that into account may be politically defensible as well.

Edited July 21, 2016 by Jingthing

[Steely Dan]

If you want to know how serious this situation is, think of the US airbase. Erdogan is a megalomaniac currently undergoing a fit of narcissistic rage, he is capable of anything.

http://app.debka.com/p/article/25560/Erdogan-locks-US-airmen-nuclear-arms-in-Incirlik

I guess Gulen should indicate if he has any dietary preferences for his inflight meal.

[MisterTee]

Ignoring the conspiracy theory noise, especially the predictable blame everything on Israel crapola, I think the U.S. should simply follow the letter of U.S. law strictly, and if a strong case is made for extradition that meets U.S. law then extradite him. If not, don't, and explain how the case is too weak. Erdogan is a horrible leader but the U.S. may soon elect someone as bad (trump) and the U.S. has the death penalty so if they are sending Gulen to his death, that isn't a problem under U.S. law, that is if the case is strong enough.

Of course another way to look at it is that is holding on to Gulen worth destroying cooperation with Turkey to fight Daesh. I suppose taking that into account may be politically defensible as well.

So little is known about who was behind the coup in Turkey that everything is speculation.

Hopefully more facts will come out soon. In the meantime, the only thing certain is that Erdogan is ruthlessly purging the country of Fethullah Gulen's organization Hizmet, which ex-FBI whistle-blower Sibel Edmonds exposed as a CIA asset.

The Russians ran afoul of Gulen by banning Hizmet's activities in Russia in 2008. The Turkish F-16 pilot who shot down the Russian SU-24 bomber over Syria on November 24 2015 turned out to be a Gulen follower and subsequently participated in the coup. .His helicopter was shot down in Ankara. This is not an example of fast thinking: in March 2016 the pro-government newspaper Sabah revealed that the pilot was a Gulen supporter and had acted upon his instructions. Whether Gulen had been hostile to Russia for his own reasons or followed CIA orders, he succeeded in causing enmity between Putin and Erdogan.

The possible Israeli connection is through the coup leader, former Turkish military attache in Tel Aviv, General Akin Ozturk.

Anyone who comes out with detailed explanations at this point is either clueless or is disingenuously pushing an agenda.