US offers help to investigate coup attempt in Turkey
US Secretary of State John Kerry says Washington is ready to help Turkey investigate a failed coup, inviting Ankara to share any evidence it has against US-based opposition cleric Fethullah Gulen.
Kerry, who is in Luxembourg, said Saturday that the US had not yet received a formal extradition request for Gulen, who is now being blamed for Friday night’s coup attempt.
Ankara said on Saturday that followers of Gulen were behind the failed coup launched by a faction of the military which used tanks and attack helicopters in an attempt to seize power from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim.
“We fully anticipate that there will be questions raised about Mr. Gulen,” Kerry said.
“And obviously we invited the government of Turkey, as we always do, to present us with any legitimate evidence that withstands scrutiny and the United States will accept that and look at it and make judgments about it appropriately,” he added.
Meanwhile, Yildirim warned that any country that stands by Gulen will not be a friend of Turkey and will be considered at war with Ankara.
Robert Amsterdam, a lawyer for the Turkish government, accused the opposition figure of having “direct involvement” in the coup attempt.
Amsterdam said he and his firm “have attempted repeatedly to warn the US government of the threat posed” by Gulen and his movement.
He said, according to Turkish intelligence sources, “There are signs that Gulen is working closely with certain members of military leadership against the elected civilian government.”
Gulen, once a close ally to Erdogan, fled to the US in 1999 after former secular authorities laid charges against him. Turkey says it has asked the US to extradite him but Washington has shown little interest in doing so.
Erdogan claims Gulen has built a network of supporters in Turkey’s police, media and judiciary and is conspiring to oust his government. Gulen, however, denies the allegations.
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