Gulen lawyers reject calls for extradition
Attorneys for Fethullah Gulen, the US-based Turkish cleric, said on Friday they expect the US Department of Justice to reject Turkey’s request to extradite him on charges of fomenting last month’s failed coup.
“Mr Gulen had not one thing to do with it,” said Reid Weingarten, a partner at Steptoe & Johnson. “Mr Gulen should not, and will not, be extradited.”
At issue are Turkish government claims that the 75-year-old, who has been living in rural Pennsylvania in self-imposed exile since 1999, is responsible for instigating the July 15 coup attempt. Rebel military units blocked bridges over the Bosphorus, bombed government buildings and narrowly missed capturing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan before the rebellion was crushed.
As pro-coup units and loyalist soldiers battled for control, 246 people were killed, including 179 civilians, and another 2,000 individuals were wounded, according to the government.
Turkish officials have said publicly that they have turned over to the US several dossiers of information on Mr Gulen’s activities. But speaking in Washington, the cleric’s legal team derided Turkish claims as insufficient under US law and said any evidence provided would be tainted by torture.
“This guy cannot get a fair trial and heaven knows he would be put in jeopardy the second he gets on the plane,” Mr Weingarten said.
The Turkish embassy did not provide an immediate response. Amnesty International last month said it had gathered “credible evidence” that individuals detained following the coup were being tortured and beaten.
In the coup’s aftermath, Mr Erdogan has cashiered more than 40,000 military personnel, judges, prosecutors, journalists, and teachers. The government has also declared a state of emergency, giving Mr Erdogan expanded powers to maintain order.
Mr Gulen’s attorneys described the extradition battle as the latest episode in a tug of war for influence within Turkey, a strategically vital nation of 75m people. “From Mr Erdogan’s perspective, this is about power and politics,” said Mr Weingarten.
Mr Gulen was once an Erdogan ally, but the two split several years ago amid Mr Erdogan’s increasingly authoritarian rule. The cleric has thousands of supporters within the Turkish military and government, a network Turkey’s president regards as a threat.
Even after purging the army, Erdogan will be anxious
Suspicion must remain that there are plotters yet to show their hands, writes David Gardner Mr Gulen’s Hizmet or “service” movement runs a network of schools in Turkey and other countries, including the United States. Mr Weingarten, who said he had spent time in Mr Gulen’s rural Pennsylvania compound, described the cleric as “elderly, elegant, dignified and frail” and said the allegations that he was behind the coup were absurd.
Despite repeated public calls from Mr Erdogan and other senior Turkish officials for Mr Gulen’s extradition, it is not clear whether Ankara has filed an official request. Mr Gulen’s attorneys said they did not know and a DoJ spokesman would say only: "The Turkish Ministry of Justice has provided materials relating to Mr Gulen, and we have begun analysing these materials."
- Created on .