Relations between
Turkey and the United States, long strained, have grown even worse in
the wake of the failed military uprising in July, which the government
in Ankara has all but accused Washington of abetting.
On Wednesday, Vice President Joe Biden is scheduled to fly to Turkey on
a fence-mending mission. The Veep is famous for his hearty affability,
and if any American leader could defuse tensions with Turkey’s Islamist
president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, it would be Biden. But there are higher
priorities than making nice to Turkey just now. One of them is to make
it clear that the United States has no plans to extradite Fethullah
Gulen, the former Erdogan ally whom Turkish officials accuse of
masterminding the attempted coup.
Gulen, who has been living in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania
since 1999, promotes a philosophy that comprises elements of moderate
Islam and Sufi mysticism, free-market economics, and interfaith
tolerance. That he has a wide following in Turkey (and elsewhere) is not
in doubt. But Erdogan’s claims that Gulen orchestrated the July coup
are unsupported by proof. The 75-year-old cleric is a legal permanent
resident of the United States, shielded by American standards of due
process. Biden must be crystal-clear on this point: Unless and until
Turkey supplies convincing evidence of Gulen’s complicity in the July
mutiny, he is not going to be handed over to Erdogan’s toughs.
Those toughs have been busy in recent weeks, rounding up supposed
“Gulenists” by the scores of thousands. Erdogan’s vengeful crackdown has
been ruthless, purging not only military officers from their positions,
but also judges, teachers, civil servants, journalists, prosecutors.
Regime loyalists have been vigorously maligning the United States.
Anti-American protesters have demonstrated at the Incirlik air base in
Turkey, accusing US soldiers based there of being among the plotters.
One pro-Erdogan newspaper went so far
as to claim that US Army General John Campbell, the respected former
commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan, conspired with the CIA in
trying to overthrow the Turkish government.
Thanks: http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/editorials/2016/08/19/strong-message-for-erdogan/gRhQdTjpGAdGGCiMtNakTK/story.html
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