Lawyers for US-based Turkish cleric fear attacks on his life

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2016-08-05 | 12:14
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 Lawyers for US-based Turkish cleric fear attacks on his life
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Lawyers for US-based Turkish cleric fear attacks on his life
Lawyers for US-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen said on Friday they feared attacks on his life following Turkey's demands that he be extradited to face allegations that he ordered a failed coup against the government last month.   
 
The lawyers said they expected Gulen, who has denied any involvement in the July 15 coup attempt, will remain in his remote mountain compound in Pennsylvania.
 
"We have read concerns from Turkey that Mr. Gulen, this elderly, frail religious leader, is going to flee to another country," said Steptoe & Johnson LLP attorney Reid Weingarten on Friday, calling such allegations "absurd."   
 
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has blamed Gulen for the violence, in which Erdogan said 237 people were killed excluding the plotters and more than 2,100 wounded, and said the United States should extradite him to Turkey. The US government has not done so, and the dispute has raised questions about relations between the two allies.   
 
Turkey, a member of the NATO alliance, hosts American troops and warplanes at Incirlik Air Base, an important staging area for the US-led fight against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.  
 
At a news conference in Washington, Weingarten and Michael Miller, another Steptoe attorney, said evidence from a 2015 case financed by the Turkish government against Gulen in US federal court in Pennsylvania showed that the Turkish government relies on dubious proof to make its case against him.   
 
That case alleged Gulen issued coded orders to followers in the Turkish judiciary in a 2009 sermon to persecute members of another religious sect. It also alleged that the script of a popular Turkish television show was laced with follow-up messages. The case was dismissed by a judge in June.   
 
Turkish government officials, however, say such evidence is valid because Gulen operates covertly and sends encoded messages to his followers.     
 
Turkey has sent the United States new documents in recent days containing evidence that Turkish authorities say proves the cleric was behind the attempted coup. US officials say they are looking through them.  ​
 
 
REUTERS

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