So, Erdogan believes Gulen was behind the failed coup and wants the U.S. to send him back to Turkey. But is there any actual evidence Gulen was behind it? I’d find it hard to believe that U.S. intelligence hasn’t been keeping an eye on Gulen - monitoring e-mail and phone traffic etc. And, if there is evidence, why not send him back?
Erdogan would eviscerate him with a can opener.
First of all we have no legal basis to send him back. Secondly we backed the wrong side in that coup.
Beyond that, even if he’d been advocating Erdogan’s overthrow…
Isn’t that his right? The first amendment protects everybody, citizens and emigrants alike. He’s got a perfect right to speak and work to bring peaceful change all he wants.
If they can prove he’s running guns or something that’s entirely different. But I don’t think we’re turning him over to Erdogan on his say-so.
Since this is a political question, let’s move it to Great Debates.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
In any case, the Turkish government will need to follow whatever procedures are set in the appropriate extradition treaty (assuming there’s one). They tend to require a bit more paperwork than “gimme that guy, naow!”
And if there’s no treaty, oops.
Some talking head stated this morning that treason is not an extraditable offense. If there was a known violation of US law or an extraditable offense we’d have heard about it by now. Maybe something will come up, and that will place us in a tough position, but all those procedures will make it take a long time anyway. He would have to have committed a serious violation of US law for us to fast track this one.
Yes, extradition normally doesn’t cover political crimes, so Turkey would have to point to a crime that is clearly not part of political activity.
I don’t remember the U.S. backing any side of the coup.
Extraditing Gulen to Turkey would be tantamount to state-sponsored murder of a man whose only crime is vocal, peaceful opposition to an aspiring despot.
It should be pretty telling that Gulen denounced the coup attempt almost immediately, while Erdogan has requested his followers compile lists of Hizmet adherents abroad; for entirely innocuous reasons, I’m sure :rolleyes:
We still failed then. Erdogan supports our enemies, he wants to turn Turkey into a theocracy, we should have backed the coup.
Yes, because the US has such a good record of intervening in the internal affairs of other nations, especially when it backs military actions against elected governments. :rolleyes:
Yeah, I know. We’ve made a mess of everything, and maybe staying out of it is the best course of action now.
Yes. We did exactly the right thing by not taking sides. And we are doing exactly the right thing by not extraditing anyone back to Turkey for the reasons thus far given.
Is there any way we could get Obama back for a 3rd engagement? It’s going to seriously suck when he’s left the building…
If that statement came out after the coup failed it makes sense. And it failed pretty quickly. I wouldn’t have liked him saying that if the coup went on for a while and he made the statement before it was over. Coups in Turkey have kept it from becoming an Islamist state so far, just because it’s a democratically elected government doesn’t mean we have to support it, and this is a country that has a history of restoring democracy after coups.
“… a man whose only crime is vocal, peaceful opposition to an aspiring despot.”
Do we know that to be the case? Apparently, he is under the scrutiny of law enforcement here in the U.S. for some sneaky business involving charter schools.
I assume Erdogan hasn’t stated that as a reason to return him.
It’s not up to the US to evaluate the evidence about this guy. IMO, there are two things for the government to consider.
- What are the particulars of an extradition agreement with Turkey, if indeed there is one?
- Has this guy claimed status as some kind of refugee, and does he fit those criteria?
I have seen no solid info about how he was allowed to live in the US. If anyone here has, please post links.