Although Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has repeatedly called on the US administration to extradite Pennsylvania-based Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen to Turkey, it has emerged that Turkey has still not sent a dossier to the US in an attempt to prove Gülen’s involvement in a failed coup in July.
Speaking at a news conference on Sunday on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hangzhou, China, after meeting with US President Barack Obama, Erdoğan said Turkey had sent a dossier to the US about Gülen prior to the July 15 coup attempt and will send a new file regarding Gülen’s alleged involvement in the failed coup to the US later.
He said the new dossier will be submitted to a US delegation that will pay a visit to Turkey to discuss Gülen’s extradition.
Turkish authorities claim Gülen, who lives in Pennsylvania, was the mastermind behind the violent coup attempt that killed over 240 people on July 15, while Gülen denies any involvement.
US Vice President Joe Biden, who visited Ankara last month, said the US administration wants to cooperate with Turkey over the Turkish government’s request for the extradition of Gülen but that it is a US court that will make the decision.