India must understand Erdogan???s ideological motives for seeking
extradition of Gülenists
Ghulam
Rasool Dehlvi*After the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo??an accused his former ally and an
avowedly moderate Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen of plotting the failed coup,
the Turkish government sought his extradition from the US. But surprisingly,
the US has now confirmed that Turkey has made a formal request for the
extradition and has specified that it is not linked to the failed coup. The
Deputy State Department spokesperson Mark Toner said, ???We can now confirm that
Turkey has requested the extradition of Gülen. But I wouldn???t characterise the
request as relating to the coup attempt.???
Initially, Erdo??an had said that ???Sooner or later America will have to make a
choice. Either Fethullah Gülen???s terror organisations, as the Turkish regime
terms it, or the democratic country Turkey.??? But so far, the US has refused to
hand over Gülen, saying Turkey would need to provide ???evidence, not
allegations??? against him, in order to have him extradited. Recently, Washington
has sent investigation teams to obtain an ???evidence-based extradition request???.
But Erdo??an wants Gülen???s immediate extradition. The latest ???formal request of
extradition??? from Ankara for the US-based modernist Islamic scholar is clearly
an escape from the scrutiny that Erdo??an was asked to carry out. One wonders
why the extradition is now delinked from
