Turkey: US shouldn’t ‘sacrifice’ alliance over Muslim cleric

Turkey’s justice minister says Tuesday the United States would be sacrificing its alliance with Turkey to “a terrorist” if it were to refuse to extradite a US-based Muslim cleric who the government says is behind the July 15 failed coup.

Bekir Bozdag also tells the state-run Anadolu Agency that anti-American sentiment in Turkey is reaching “its peak” over the issue of cleric Fethullah Gulen’s return, and risks turning into hatred.

Turkey has branded Gulen’s movement a terror organization and wants him returned to Turkey to face trial. Washington says it would need evidence of the cleric’s involvement, and says the regular extradition process must be allowed to take its course.

Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania, has denied involvement in the violent coup attempt that left more than 270 people dead.

“If (the United States) does not return him, it will have sacrificed Turkey to a terrorist,” Bozdag says. “The United States is a great state and I believe will do what is expected from a great state.”

Bozdag says Turkish authorities were still investigating who, after Gulen, was the number 2 suspect in the coup plot.

— AP