Turkish Foreign Minister Mouloud Zhaoshoglu on Tuesday handed over to the US authorities a list of 84 people his country is demanding to be extradited to the United States for belonging to Turkish leader Fathullah Gulen, accused by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of orchestrating a failed military coup against him in the summer of 2016.
After meeting with his US counterpart Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton, he said he had received "no assurances" that Washington would comply with Ankara's request, which has repeatedly asked Washington to hand over Gulen, but the latter refuses to meet the request to date.
"There are no guarantees, but we gave them this list of people we ask the United States to extradite to Turkey," he said, adding that the list included the names of 84 people, including Gulen.
He added that US President Donald "Trump asked Erdogan to send this list."
Trump said Saturday that Gulen's deportation to Turkey was "not on the table". "We are always trying to find out what we can do for Turkey," he said.
However, the Turkish minister saw positive signs in this file. "It's good to see that there are ongoing investigations by the FBI about the organization's activities here in the United States," he said.
"The United States actually saw the darkness of this criminal network," he said, accusing the Gulen movement of criminal activities such as "money laundering, tax fraud, visa fraud and other illegal activities."
"This is what we were asking the United States: open a simple investigation and you will see the type of network you are dealing with while you are hosting here in your country."
"I welcome the positive momentum in the relations between Washington and Ankara after the last release of American Rev. Andrew Bronson once again expressed the United States' denunciation of Turkey's continued" unjust detention of American citizens and local staff "in US diplomatic missions in the country, Including NASA astronaut Sirkan Gulg. "
