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US to consider Islamist leader’s extradition to Turkey after getting documents

The decision would be taken exceptionally on the basis of facts and in line with US legislation, said Nicole Navas Oxman, the DoJ spokesperson

© REUTERS/Charles Mostoller

WASHINGTON, April 3. /TASS/. US will take a decision on whether it should extradite the leader of FETO [Fetullahist Terrorist Organization], Fethullah Gulen to Turkey in connection with the assassionation of the Russian Ambassador in Ankara, Andrei Karlov, when the Turkish government submits the documents related to the case, a spokesperson for the US Department of Justice [DoJ] said on Monday.

The decision would be taken exceptionally on the basis of facts and in line with US legislation, said Nicole Navas Oxman, the DoJ spokesperson.

"We will review any materials the Turkish government may provide in this regard, and will make any decisions about extradition on the basis or the facts and relevant US laws," she said. "We have no further comment."

Turkish news channel Haber Turk said earlier on Monday a court in Turkey had issued a warrant to arrest eight members of FETO, including its leader Fethullah Gulen, on charges of involvement in the assassination of Ambassador Karlov in December 2016. The channel said it was Gulen who had made out an order to kill Karlov.

Andrei Karlov was assassinated on December 19, 2016, when he was addressing audiences at the opening of a photo exhibition in Ankara. The attacker, police officer Mevlut Mert Altintas, was eliminated.

The Russian Foreign Ministry qualified the attack as a terrorist act and the Russian Investigative Committee instituted a criminal case citing charges with international terrorism. The Russian government decorated Ambassador Karlov posthumously with the title of the Hero of Russia.

The Sabah newspaper said on December 19, 2017, quoting the Turkish attorney’s office the killer Altintas had been linked to the preacher Gulen. Investigators said all the information from Gulen streamed to the killer’s telephone number.

The Turkish authorities accuse Gulen, who moved to the US in 1999, of engineering an abortive coup attempt in Turkey on July 15, 2016.

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