MHP leader calls on US to extradite Fetullah Gülen

The U.S. should extradite the leader of the FETÖ, the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in Turkey, the head of a Turkish major political party said on July 13.

"Unless the terror nests in Pennsylvania are dispersed and the terrorist leader (Fetullah) Gülen and his gang are held accountable before Turkish justice- the Turkish people will not be able to breathe a sigh of relief," Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), told his party's parliamentary group.

Gülen is a resident alien of the US state of Pennsylvania. Bahçeli said that if the U.S. had not been behind FETÖ, then under the rules of alliances, the US would have "immediately" extradited Gülen to Turkey.

"There is no alternative, no other solution, no other choice, the price of betrayal would not have been paid otherwise," he said.

"The U.S. is obliged to fulfill this historic duty to support the fight against terrorism," he added.

Since 2016, U.S. presidents have said it is up to independent judicial authorities to decide on Gülen's extradition, claiming that Turkey has not given them sufficient evidence of Gülen's guilt.

But Turkey has said it sent U.S. officials extensive evidence showing that Gülen was the coup ringleader.

FETÖ and its U.S.-based leader Gülen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, in which 251 people were killed and 2,734 injured.

Ankara also accuses FETÖ of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.

Politics, Fethullah Gülen,