Secretary Kerry insists Turkey must provide legal, solid evidence against Fethullah Gulen


Date posted: July 18, 2016

Jake Tapper: As you know on Saturday the president of Turkey Erdogan demanded that the U.S. arrest or hand over one of his enemies Fethullah Gulen, the person he is holding responsible for this coup who is living in self-imposed exile in the Poconos in Pennsylvania. Is the U.S. going to comply with this demand for extradition?

Secretary of State John Kerry: Well, first of all, we have not had a formal request for extradition. That has to come in a formal package, it has to come with documentation for the request and go to the justice department and we will deal with it. I made it very very clear to the foreign minister of Turkey yesterday that the United States is not harboring anybody, we’re not preventing anything from happening. We’ve never had a formal request for extradition, and we have always said, “give us the evidence, show us the evidence”. We need a solid, legal foundation that meets the standard of extradition in order for our courts to approve such a request. So we’re waiting for that. They tell us they are putting it together and will send it to us but we think it’s irresponsible to have accusations of American involvement [in the coup attempt] when we’re simply waiting for their request, which we’re absolutely prepared to act on, if it meets the legal standard.

Source: CNN , July 17, 2016

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