Turkey has asked Germany to extradite former Col. İlhami Polat, one of the key plotters of the July 2016 defeated coup attempt, officials said Sunday.

Polat, who is accused of organizing the takeover at the Land Forces Military School in Ankara, had fled to Greece after the defeated coup attempt, and later arrived in Germany and applied for asylum.

A senior Turkish official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Anadolu Agency (AA) that Turkey has formally asked Germany to extradite Polat to face charges for attempting to overthrow the democratically elected government.

His wife Suzan Polat told prosecutors in 2017 that her husband took part in the coup attempt on the orders of Fetullah Gülen, the U.S.-based leader of the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ).