Cleric accused of masterminding Turkey coup attempt urges U.S. to deny extradition

Mangalore Today News Network

July 18, 2016: The Turkish cleric who President Recep Tayip Erdogan has accused of masterminding last week’s failed coup urged the Obama administration not to bow to calls for his extradition, but said he was prepared to “face the gallows” if he were to be returned to the country he left nearly two decades ago.

In an email exchange with The Wall Street Journal on Sunday, Fethullah Gulen also called on the U.S. to press Erdogan to back away from what the imam called a growing power grab by the Turkish president.

“I don’t believe the U.S. will honor a request that is based on the enmity of a regime, which is recognized as dictatorial and has lost all of its credibility in the eyes of the world,” Gulen said from his home in rural Pennsylvania, where he has lived in self-imposed exile since 1999.

“Under any circumstances, if I had to return to Turkey and face the gallows, I will not blink an eye. I am 77 years old and I look forward to meeting my Lord and the life in the hereafter,” he added.

Gulen leads no registered congregation, and says he leads a simple life, removed from worldly concerns in his mansion in Saylorsburg, in the Pocono Mountains. He is estimated to have a significant following in Turkey and abroad.

Asked on Sunday about the fates of his followers since the coup was put down, Gulen expressed disappointment in the Western response to the mass arrests carried out over the weekend, adding, “but I trust that however cruel treatment they receive, sympathizers [to his Hizmet movement] will continue to respect to the law and will remain peaceful. Their response so far is praiseworthy.”