Turkey Touts ‘Positive Signals’ on Gulen Extradition

On Friday, he penned an opinion column in the the French daily Le Monde, saying he would willingly hand himself over to Turkish authorities on the condition that an independent worldwide investigative body found him guilty of orchestrating the coup.

Washington has yet to accept Turkey’s request for Gulen, saying it needs direct evidence of his involvement in the coup.

Speaking at a news conference in Ankara, Cavusoglu said that 208 Foreign Ministry employees have been recalled, of whom 32 failed to return, the Anadolu news agency reported. He strongly denies the claim.

Turkey is pressing the United States to extradite the 75-year-old cleric and has purged tens of thousands of his suspected followers from the armed forces, other state institutions, the media and academia.

“Iran’s Foreign Minister was in phone dialogue with me from the very early moments of the coup, and voiced the firm stance of Iran’s government beside the legal government of Turkey against the coupists”, said Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, at the joint presser of his meeting with Mr. Zarif on Friday in Ankara.

“Everyone in the world knows who is behind this coup attempt”, Cavusoglu said.

“We all need to stand against the extremism of (the Islamic State group) and al-Nusra”, he added. Last week, an arrest warrant was issued in Turkey for Gulen.

The Iranian foreign minister met the Turkish president on Friday in the most significant visit by a high-ranking foreign dignitary to Turkey since the July 15 failed coup attempt in the country.

“And despite the current crisis in Turkish relations with the West, the Turkish leadership is smart enough to remain aligned with the West. Turkey realizes that beyond the bluff and bluster, Russian Federation is still operating from a position of fundamental weakness and insecurity”, he said. He was elected to parliament in 2011 but resigned from the ruling party following the government’s rift with Gulen.