Turkish court issues arrest warrant for cleric Gulen

(Baonghean.vn) - On August 4, a court in Türkiye officially issued an arrest warrant for cleric Fethullah Gulen - the figure that the Ankara government accused of being the mastermind of the failed coup on the night of July 15, which killed more than 270 people.

Cleric Gulen was once an ally of President Erdogan. Photo: Reuters.

According to state news agency Anadolu, a court in Istanbul has issued an arrest warrant for cleric Gulen on charges of "leading the July 15 coup".

The Turkish government has also accused Mr. Gulen, a former ally of President Tayyip Erdogan who is currently living in exile in Pennsylvania, of masterminding the recent failed military coup and Ankara wants Washington to extradite Mr. Gulen to Turkey for trial.

However, the US side believes that Türkiye must provide full evidence of the involvement of cleric Gulen in the recent coup. Currently, the Ankara government has only made accusations, but has not provided any specific evidence about Mr. Gulen.

Ankara has not yet made a formal extradition request, but the Court's official issuance of an arrest warrant for Cleric Gulen as above can be seen as the first step in this process.

So far, more than 60,000 people working in the military, police, judiciary, education, media... have been arrested or fired by the Ankara government due to their involvement in last month's coup.

In addition, President Erdogan has also pledged to cut off the income sources of businesses linked to cleric Gulen, and declared zero tolerance in the crackdown campaign targeting Mr. Gulen's interests.

Mehdi Eker, vice chairman of Türkiye's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), said countries should take prompt action against organizations and schools linked to the Gulen movement. According to Mr. Eker, the Gulen movement funds hundreds of schools and charities in more than 100 countries. Mr. Eker also warned that these countries could face "security risks" from these organizations in the future.

Lan Ha

(According to Aljazeera)