More than 150 U.S. state legislators received subsidized junkets to Turkey from the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), which orchestrated the failed July 15 coup attempt, according to a report from the Center for Public Integrity, an American nonprofit news organization.
On Sept. 13, Turkish authorities filed an official extradition request to the U.S. for the leader of FETÖ, Fetullah Gülen, under the scope of the 1979 treaty between the two countries.
Gülen has been in self-imposed exile on a 400-acre property in the Pocono foothills of Pennsylvania since 1999.
The institution documented the extent of the trips of the legislators, some of which cost more than $7,000, and found that some of these state lawmakers later introduced resolutions supporting the FETÖ network in the U.S. Some lawmakers even supported the charter schools that are part of a network of roughly 160 taxpayer-financed schools, stretching from Washington to California run by friends of the terror group in the U.S.
The report also suggested that those who took the trips included individuals who had rarely traveled overseas and that many of them had possessed little knowledge about Fetullah Gülen or Turkish politics. However, they were political figures who had the potential to play a big role in Congress and beyond. One legislator, Republican Thom Tillis, who was first elected to the North Carolina statehouse in 2006 and visited Turkey in 2011, later served on the powerful Armed Services Committee, which oversees members of the U.S. military stationed in Turkey.
The lawmakers also determine educational policies, as well as hold the purse strings on state budgets that finance charter schools.
Turkish PM asks CIA chief about Gülen's extradition Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım reiterated Turkey's request for the extradition of Gülen when he met CIA Director Mike Pompeo at Çankaya Palace in Ankara on Friday, according to a Prime Ministry source.
Yıldırım also asked for more cooperation from Pompeo to deal with FETÖ's structure in the U.S. as well, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media.
Pompeo arrived in the Turkish capital on Thursday for his first overseas visit since taking office last month. His arrival came two days after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke on the phone with U.S. President Donald Trump.
The CIA head met President Erdoğan at the presidential complex on Thursday, according to a presidential source. Hakan Fidan, the head of Turkey's National Intelligence Organization (MİT), was also present at the meeting. Pompeo also visited the MIT office.
