ANKARA
Turkey expects the U.S. to extradite Pennsylvania-based preacher Fethullah Gulen if Ankara files a request, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said Wednesday.
Gulen is accused of trying to topple the Turkish government.
"Turkey expects the U.S. to honor bilateral agreements and extradite Gulen," Bozdag told The Anadolu Agency, where he attended the AA Editor's Desk meeting.
"As two allies, the U.S. and Turkey are cooperating in many fields, including mutual legal assistance. I believe they will respond positively if Turkey decides to extend a request for Gulen's extradition," he said.
"Of course, it is at their discretion. However, there are binding legal agreements, and we have the right to expect the U.S. to abide by those agreements just like Turkey does," the minister said.
'Iran scenario' prevented
Referring to the Dec. 17, 2013 anti-graft investigations, Bozdag went on to say that without this probe, the movement could have reached its goal of toppling the government.
In December 2013, an anti-graft investigation targeted a number of high-profile figures, including the sons of three former government ministers and leading Turkish businessmen.
The government denounced the probe as a "dirty plot" constructed by the "parallel state."
Since then, hundreds of police officers have been detained on charges of eavesdropping on Turkey's top officials, disclosing highly-sensitive information, forming and belonging to an organization to commit crime, violating privacy, illegally seizing personal information and forging official documents.
"If there had not been an anti-graft probe, or it was too late, and the Turkish people were not aware of the power this structure had gained, Gulen could have returned to Turkey just like Khomeini returned to Iran.
"In this sense, the Dec. 17 anti-graft investigation is the day Turkey said 'no' to such a transformation," Bozdag said.
The Pennsylvania-based preacher's so-called Hizmet movement is accused of forming a criminal gang -- popularly referred to as "the parallel state" -- within Turkey's key institutions, including the judiciary and the police, in an attempt to undermine the Turkish government.
The Turkish government accuses Gulen supporters of lobbying unspecified foreign elements to topple the elected government and of being behind online leaks, wiretapping and spying on high-ranking officials.
The Gulen movement denies all charges.
To say people arrested for journalistic activities in Turkey is a ‘smear tactic’
Bozdag also denied that journalists were arrested in Turkey for their journalistic activities, calling such reports by international organizations "a smear campaign," and a "dirty operation" against Turkey.
"Those who say that journalists are arrested in Turkey just because they are doing their job are slandering. There is nobody jailed in Turkey for journalistic activities," he said.
