MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Turkey will again ask the United States to extradite a Muslim cleric it blames for staging the July coup after Donald Trump is sworn in as US president, a senior Turkish lawmaker said Thursday.
Ankara has been pushing Washington to hand over Fethullah Gulen, a former ally of the Turkish president living in Pennsylvania, since the July 15 coup attempt. Gulen is accused of running a terrorist group in Turkey from abroad, but Washington said there was not enough evidence.
"After Trump assumes his duties, this file [on Gulen] should certainly be sent to him," Taha Ozhan, who heads the parliament’s foreign affairs commission, told the Anadolu news agency.
The Republican nominee celebrated an unexpected victory over his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, early on Wednesday. He will succeed incumbent President Barack Obama on January 20. The Turkish lawmaker said Ankara could bring up Gulen’s extradition in February.
