US State Dept spox: Gülen to our knowledge living peacefully in Pennsylvania
Turkish Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen is living peacefully up in Pennsylvania in his compound, US State Department Deputy Spokesperson Mark C. Toner said amid a wave of accusations leveled against the scholar.
“We are well aware of how he is perceived by members of the – Turkey’s Government and political leadership, but he is, to our knowledge thus far, living in accordance with the law. If he wasn’t, then we would obviously have something to say about that. But to our knowledge, he’s living peacefully up in Pennsylvania in his compound,” Toner said during press briefing on Monday.
Turkey survived a military coup attempt on July 15 evening with the government accusing Gülen to be behind the attempt. Gülen has insistently repudiated such claims, slamming any intervention into democratically elected government.
Following the coup attempt, the Justice Ministry sent an official request for the extradition of Gülen according to government circles.
Since a massive corruption scandal that implicated then-ministers of the Cabinet erupted on Dec. 17, 2013, AKP government claimed that the graft investigation was a “coup attempt” against his government and accused the Gülen of being behind it. The sons of ministers, well-known business people, a district mayor, a director of a state-owned bank, and many high-profile figures, who were arrested as part of the investigation, were released and the prosecutors who initiated the case were later imprisoned as a result of political interference. However, four Cabinet ministers were forced to resign.
https://tr2w.com/article/us-state-dept-spox-gulen-to-our-knowledge-living-peacefully-in-pennsylvania
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