In an interview today on Haberturk TV, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu warned bilateral relations with the United States would be seriously impacted if the US refuses demands to immediately extradite cleric Fethullah Gulen.
Gulen, who lives in exile in Pennsylvania, is a former ally of the Erdogan government who has been vilified since a falling out, and has been blamed for this month’s failed military coup. Gulen denies the allegation, and publicly criticized the coup effort.
Turkey reportedly filed “evidence” against Gulen with the US government last week as part of a request for extradition, though since then US officials have repeatedly pushed for “clear evidence” of Gulen’s involvement.
Turkish officials have been complaining about that since the coup happened, arguing the US could just send them Gulen with no questions asked if they really wanted to. So far, however, the indications are that the US is holding off on deciding on the extradition.
Has the US ever extradited anyone? I thought it was pretty much policy the US doesn’t care about such requests, the sole world power and all. Miami is full of crooks and killers that a bunch of Latin American countries would like to see returned.
Striking parallels with the demands to hand over Shah Reza Pahlavi in 1979.
Will Obama’s foreign policy legacy suffer a Jimmy Carter?
It would only get worse if it comes out that the CIA was involved.
Obama: Tell me you didn’t just pull some more stupid sh*t…
CIA: *awkward silence* Umm…well actually Mr. President…
For that scenario to happen, Turkish goons acting on Erdogan’s orders would have to occupy the US embassy in Ankara and take everyone inside hostage. Then Obama would have to sit around for the rest of his administration with his thumbs up his posterior.
Just to be safe, Gulen should find himself a new home. (I’m sure he has his travel agent on speed dial.) If he can tolerate cold and snowy winters, Switzerland would be a good choice. If he can also handle volcanoes, so is Iceland
the embassy in iran was not occupied on order of the ayatollahs, it was done spontaneously by a group of students who had no intention of being more than a one of event.
it became a huge deal and people around tehran found out and went out to protest.
the hostages were not released because at the time iran had no government, and they ayatollah said explicitly that the hostages would not be released until the government was formed so that they would not be used for political points
Even the base where the F-16 fighter pilot shot down that russian jet was at an eastern turkish air base with strong ties to the CIA. There is definitely something fishy going on. I don’t see what the US has to gain by bringing such instability to such an important ally.
Assuming that something “fishy” is indeed going on, keep in mind that it would not be “the US” as such which gained. It would be some agency, bureau, etc. or cabal within one or more of those organizations, which would gain.
It would be hard to make the case that the CIA/NSA have, on balance, benefited “the US.” But they’ve certainly benefited themselves with ongoing and increasing budgets, enhanced power, etc., and one way in which they do that is creating the very threats they claim to protect “the US” from.
The attempted coup in Turkey may have been the work of NATO’s Rapid Deployable Corps. A Turkish intel chief claims that Fethullah Gulen’s worldwide Islamic movement based in Pennsylvania has been providing cover for the CIA since the mid-1990s. An Indian diplomat has written, “Gulen’s request to remain in the United States was endorsed by a former top official dealing with the Middle East in the Central Intelligence Agency”. — http://www.twf.org/News/Y2016/0716-Turkey.html
Shades of Afghanistan- we did the same thing when the Taliban offered to hand over Osama bin Laden. All they wanted was evidence of the crimes we were accusing him of (9/11), and when we didn’t pony up they withdrew their offer. And right on cue, we used that as our pretext for invasion. One wonders if Turkey- given a powerful enough military- would be justified in invading the US for the same principle.
Better yet, what happens when Turkey launches a hypothetical drone attack over US soil in order to eliminate Gulen? And what happens if they kill innocent Americans in the process? We could hardly find them at fault since we do the same thing every day in other countries.
… but we’re the exceptional state 🙂
Jul 24, 2016 Turkey’s Coup Plotters are Members of NATO’s Rapid Deployable Corps
The three most important regiments involved in the Turkey Attempted Coup plot and implementation have been part (members) of NATO’s Rapid Deployable Corps (NRDC) since 2003.
https://youtu.be/_KAxjZWy-Lk