The Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım claimed that maintenance of friendly relations between Washington and Ankara depends on extradition of the exiled Muslim preacher and leader of the Hizmet movement Fethullah Gülen, who is accused in Turkey of orchestrating a military coup.
"Of course, since the leader of this terrorist organisation is residing in the United States there are question marks in the minds of the people whether there is any US involvement or backing. So America from this point on should really think how they will continue to cooperate with Turkey, which is a strategic ally for them in the region and world," the PM stated.
Yıldırım also pointed out that documents on Gülen's involvement in the coup had not been sent to Washington yet, but would be definitely sent.
Before that, the Turkish authorities had directly accused the US of concealing terrorist Gülen.
In fact, as experts note, it is not beneficial to the Turkish authorities to have Gülen extradited from the US. As, while he resides there, the Turkish authorities have an enemy from within and without rolled into one at the same time, whom they can blame for all the problems in the country.