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'Turkey will have to make concessions to US to get Gulen back'

This file photo taken on July 18, 2016 shows Turkish cleric and opponent to the Erdogan government Fethullah Gülen looking on at his residence in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania. ©AFP

Press TV has conducted an interview with Joaquin Flores, an editor of Center For Syncretic Studies from Belgrade, to discuss Turkey's request for the extradition of US-based opposition figure Fethullah Gulen whom it blames for orchestrating the recent failed coup attempt.

Here is a rough transcription of the interview:

Press TV: Is Fethullah Gulen responsible for the coup in Turkey?

Flores: The evidence does seem to point that way. The problem for the United States is the reluctance to aid Turkey in the extradition request, while it conforms to the 1981 agreement for extradition which was signed in 1979. [It] has certain provisions which the United States will try to use a number of legal exceptions to get out of fulfilling.

Press TV: And what about the way that this is affecting the relationship between Turkey and the US? There was some news that the US is warming up to the idea, but there is yet no green light on the issue.

Flores: That's right. [The] problem is that in the event the United States does fulfill the extradition request, the force of the agreement is such that the United States would have to agree that there was some crime committed. [There] are different types of extradition request, and this type does not come prior to a conviction. So, they're actually asking the United States to detain ...  to fulfill an arrest warrant and then they would give a 60-day period. Now why the United States of course doesn't seem to want to do this is because if one connects the dots, it would be the United States essentially admitting that their own asset, heavily connected to the CIA and NATO intelligence assets, was involved in the coup.

Now, the United States may make the indication that they're warming up to the idea, but the concessions that Turkey would have to make regarding things like Turkish dream, their attempts to perhaps change their foreign relations, the relationship with Azerbaijan, the development of the Persian pathway oil pipeline versus the southern corridor line, all throw this into a tailspin and really the United States would like to reassert control over Turkish foreign relations in exchange for a simple extradition which is probably unlikely to happen.


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