The Obama administration may soon have to decide whether to extradite a cleric living in Pennsylvania to Turkey, where he might be prosecuted for his alleged role in the failed coup against President Recep Tayip Erdogan over the weekend.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the Turkish government sent materials about the status of the Muslim cleric, Fethullah Gulen. He said that request is under review by the Departments of State and Justice, who will determine whether the materials are enough to be seen as a formal request for his extradition.
Both White House and State Department officials said it’s not clear yet whether the documents are a formal extradition request.
If they are, Earnest said the terms of the U.S. extradition treaty with Turkey would determine whether Gulen is extradited, but had no other details about how the process would work. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said that under the treaty, other documents can be submitted that fall short of a formal extradition request, but he also had no other information.
President Obama and Erdogan discussed the matter during a phone call Monday, but Earnest couldn’t say that Erdogan’s government has formally requested that the Muslim cleric, Fethullah Gulen, be handed over.
“The president also made clear” to Erdogan that “the United States does not support terrorists,” Earnest said. Obama said “the United States does not support individuals who conspire to overthrow democratically elected governments; the United States follows the rule of law,” according to Earnest.
Extraditing individuals living in the United States is “a legal decision” that must follow the terms of extradition treaties as well as American “due process,” Earnest said. The president of the United States does not decide whom to and whom to not extradite, he said.
