August 5, 2016 – The Government of Turkey has issued arrest warrant for US based Cleric, Fethullah Gulen who has been accused by the President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of fuelling the July 15 failed coup which 270 people were killed and over 10,000 people arrested.
Gulen leads a broad-based Muslim group known as Hizmet and has lived in the US since 1999 on self exile.
The warrant was issued on Thursday by an Istanbul-based court on Gulen for allegedly “ordering the July 15 coup attempt”.
Gulen, a former ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who now lives in Pennsylvania is accused of masterminding the coup attempt by rebel officers in the Turkish military, and wants him extradited to Turkey.
“This arrest warrant for Fethullah Gulen is more of a symbolic legal move,” said Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith, reporting from Istanbul. It is not going to have a practical effect because Gulen is not here in Turkey.”
