Turkey formally requests US to arrest Gulen over failed coup

Turkey has made a formal request to the United States for the arrest of US-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen on charges of orchestrating an attempted military coup on 15 July, Turkish broadcaster NTV said on Tuesday.

The justice ministry has demanded that US authorities arrest the preacher on charges of "ordering and commanding the attempted coup," the Anadolu news agency reported. 

It was the first time Turkey had formally asked Washington to arrest Gulen, who currently lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania, the agency said. 

Turkey blames members of Gulen's religious movement for the failed putsch two months ago, in which rogue soldiers commandeered tanks and fighters jets, bombing parliament and seizing bridges in a bid to seize power.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan discussed the issue with US President Barack Obama at the G20 summit in China earlier this month. A senior US administration official said at the time that Obama had explained to Erdogan that the decision would be a legal, not a political one.

Ankara has on several occasions asked the US authorities to extradite Gulen, sending them documents which allegedly show evidence of his involvement in the putsch.

Early last month, an Istanbul court issued a formal arrest warrant for Gulen, who has denied any involvement in the botched coup.

When US Vice President Joe Biden visited Ankara several weeks later, he said he understood the "intense feeling" in Turkey over Gulen.

The US has "no, no, no, no interest whatsoever in protecting anyone who has done harm to an ally. None," he said. 

"But we need to meet the legal standard requirement under our law," he added. 

Fethullah Gulen is "very confident" that Turkey's efforts to have him extradited from the United States will be unsuccessful, an aide close to the Muslim cleric told Middle East Eye in August.

Alp Aslandogan, president of the New York-based Alliance for Shared Values (AFSV), said Gulen believes the Turkish authorities will not be able to produce concrete evidence to link him to the attempted coup.

“He is very confident that the Turkish side won’t be able to produce the evidence because that link [to the coup] is false... So if something is not true, how can they prove it?” Aslandogan told Middle East Eye in a telephone interview.