US delegation: Two files on FETÖ enough for Gülen's extradition


The U.S. delegation which conducted talks with Turkish officials regarding the extradition of the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) leader Fethullah Gülen, said the two indictments of Turkish prosecutors against the terror group would be enough for his extradition to Turkey.

The two-day talks between the delegations lasted 17 hours and were held in a positive atmosphere - nine hours on the first day and eight hours on the second day, according to a source in Turkey's Justice Ministry, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media.

Turkish Habertürk daily also claimed that the U.S. delegation officials from the U.S. Justice Department and another from the State Department, paid especially close attention to the main indictment of FETÖ prepared by the public prosecutor's office in Ankara and the indictment in the Tahşiye case prepared by the public prosecutor's office in Istanbul for satisfactory evidence of Gülen's extradition.

The Tahşiye group members were imprisoned based on false evidence and labeled as terrorists by police officers and prosecutors with suspected links to FETÖ because of their opposition to the terror group. Gülen first targeted the Tahşiye Publishing House in 2009, alleging that the Tahşiye group had links with extremist organizations. Then, the FETÖ-linked Zaman daily made references to the issue in its newspaper pages along with other media outlets close to the movement while the Gülenist channel Samanyolu TV depicted the Tahşiye group as a terrorist organization in the television series "Tek Türkiye" (One Turkey).

The U.S. delegation is expected to convey the information and documents to the U.S. Department of Justice and then accept a Turkish delegation which will include Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ who will pay a visit to the U.S. in order to share information about FETÖ and the failed July 15 coup attempt.

The U.S. delegation began talks with officials from the Turkish Justice Ministry's International Law and Foreign Affairs Directorate early Tuesday morning after arriving in capital Ankara late Monday night.