The White House said the U.S. government has not received a “specific extradition request” from Ankara to hand a Turkish cleric living in Pennsylvania back to the government.
If and when the Obama administration does receive such a request, U.S. officials will evaluate the request in the context of the extradition treaty between the U.S. and Turkey, according to White House press secretary Josh Earnest.
“It will be carefully considered within that context of the extradition treaty that has been on the books for 30 years now,” Earnest told reporters Monday.
“To suggest that the U.S. is harboring Mr. Gulen is factually incorrect,” he added.
Over the weekend, Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdogan accused a Muslim cleric living in Pennsylvania of masterminding last week’s failed coup against him, and has reportedly asked the U.S. government to hand him over to Turkish authorities to face charges.
The cleric, Fethullah Gulen, has urged the Obama administration not to bow to Erdogan’s demands to send him back. Gulen also called on the U.S. to press Erdogan to what he characterized as a growing power grab by the Turkish president.
Earnest said U.S. law enforcement officials will evaluate two factors laid out in the extradition treaty in determining whether to hand over Gulen: whether there is evidence that the cleric perpetrated any crimes laid out in the treaty and whether that evidence meets the standard established in the treaty.
Earnest declined to discuss the evidence that U.S. authorities had collected so far about who was behind the effort to topple Erdogan from power, but reiterated a U.S. commitment to Turkey to provide assistance investigating the coup attempt.
“We’re prepared to use our resources to help them investigate. It’s an example of our commitment to due process and rule of law, and it’s what we encouraged the Erdogan government to pursue as well,” he said.
An official extradition request from Erdogan would put the U.S. in an awkward position. Turkey is a NATO ally and the U.S. forces fighting the Islamic State in Syria use Turkey’s Incirlik air base to launch their operations.
Following the failed coup attempt, power was cut off to the air base and the Turkish government halted all use of the airspace around the site. The Erdogan government let operations resume Sunday.
