By Kubra Chohan and Sena Guler
ANKARA (AA) – The U.S. is obliged to extradite the leader of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) under a 1979 agreement with Turkey, Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul said Thursday.
Speaking at the Anadolu Agency's Editors’ Desk, Gul said the treaty made probable cause a sufficient reason to extradite a suspect.
Ankara has been seeking the extradition of FETO leader Fetullah Gulen from the U.S. since last year’s attempted coup. The former preacher has been indicted in several cases relating to the coup bid, which left 250 people dead.
The U.S. has declined to hand over Gulen, who has lived in Pennsylvania since 1999, and has said Turkey has not provided sufficient evidence.
“There have been five separate requisitions from the court but we have almost 100 folders, files, testimonies, confessions and evidence sent to the U.S.,” Gul said.
The extradition treaty, which was signed in 1979 and came into force two years later, covers offenses in both countries that are punishable by more than a year in prison.
This includes “any offense committed or attempted against a head of state or a head of government”.
The treaty adds that the countries “undertake to surrender to each other… all persons who are found within the territory of the requested party and who are being prosecuted for or have been charged with an offense”.
Discussing another dispute between Ankara and Washington, Gul said Turkish officials had met a high-level U.S. diplomatic team to resolve the visa row.
Earlier this month, both countries suspended some visa services following the arrest of Turkish staff at U.S. diplomatic missions.
Gul said a Wednesday meeting had been highly productive. “I think the next phases will result in more positive [outcomes],” he added.
However, he said that it was not possible to give an exact date for any resolution. “When they [the U.S.] take a decision on the visa dispute, we will reciprocate the decision,” the minister said.
