ANTALYA, Turkey
U.S.-based preacher Fethullah Gulen should be extradited according to agreements between Turkey and the U.S., Turkey's foreign minister said on Thursday.
Asked by a correspondent in Antalya whether Gulen will still need to be extradited when he is sought with an Interpol red notice, Mevlut Cavusoglu said, "Of course he should be extradited. There are already agreements, international laws, international conventions and ongoing cooperation between us and the U.S."
The Turkish foreign ministry spokesperson said Tuesday that the Turkish government told the U.S. authorities on Jan. 26 that it canceled Gulen’s passport for providing false information.
Previously, an Istanbul criminal court issued an arrest warrant on Dec. 19, 2015 for Gulen as part of a probe into "parallel state" operation in December 2014.
The Turkish criminal court has said that "the suspects established an illegal organization with a hierarchical structure that is separate from the state's own structure," adding that the accused aimed to "seize influential posts that govern Turkey's social, economic, military and administrative mechanisms."
Gulen has been in the U.S. since leaving Turkey in 1999 for “medical reasons.” Shortly after his departure, Turkish prosecutors opened a case against him for incitement to attacking the secular state. He was acquitted in 2008.
The current Turkish government accuses the Gulen movement of forming an illegal foreign-linked "state within the state," mainly within the police and the judiciary, which eavesdropped on thousands of people and sought to target the government.
