Turkey seeks arrest of soccer striker Hakan Sukur, seizes assets

The report said neither man had been found at their Istanbul and Sakarya residences after the warrant was issued, adding Sukur and his family had left Turkey previous year.

The former Turkish global footballer is a support of the cleric behind the coup, Fethullah Gulen, who lives in the U.S. but is wanted in Turkey as officials there try to arrange his extradition for pulling the strings of the coup that saw 270 people lose their lives and hundreds more injured.

The purge is worrying Western allies concerned about stability in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member and partner in the fight against Islamic State.

“Some of them escaped by sea, some of them escaped by air”, he said.

At a joint news conference on Friday in Ankara, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said the two neighbouring nations have agreed to “keep closer contact” on the issue of “territorial integrity of Syria”.

Turkey’s president has accused the West of supporting and aiding terrorism and said the coup in his country was organised by foreign powers (US, Saudis, UAE).

“Whether or not the anti-Americanism in Turkey will continue is also dependant on this”, Yildirim said.

Two Turkish generals based in Afghanistan who travelled to Dubai and another attache who was working in Saudi Arabia have all already been sent back to Turkey.

The extradition moves expand a domestic purge that authorities say targets a “parallel state” set up by followers of USA -based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkey accuses of orchestrating the coup plot.

Turkey nearly immediately increased pressure for the extradition from the United States of Gulen, a former ally of Erdogan who runs an influential network of global schools outside Turkey.

Turkey has issued an arrest warrant for its former worldwide football star striker Hakan Sukur in the probe over the failed July 15 coup aimed at unseating President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a report said Friday (Aug 12). Last week, an arrest warrant was issued in Turkey for Gulen. Gulen is accused of ordering the July 15 coup during which a group within the military tried to remove Erdogan from power.

Speaking to reporters in Tehran on Saturday, Qassemi said Iranian travel agencies can resume their activities in Turkey and they are no longer banned from dispatching Iranian nationals to Turkey.

Germany’s Foreign Ministry meanwhile, confirmed a report by the weekly Der Spiegel that a German woman who was arrested in Turkey following the coup attempt was released on Friday.