Fethullah Gulen, an Islamic opinion leader and founder of the Gulen movement
(ANSAmed) - ROMA - A prosecutor in Turkey has asked a court to issue an arrest warrant for US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, according to Anadolu News Agency. President Tayyip Erdoğan accuses Gulen of seeking to overthrow him, the Guardian reports. Gülen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, has been in open conflict with Erdoğan since a corruption investigation targeting the then-prime minister's inner circle a year ago. Erdoğan blamed the investigation on Gülen, but the cleric denied involvement.
Turkish courts have dropped the corruption cases and Erdoğan has purged the state apparatus of suspected Gülen supporters, removing from their posts thousands of police officers and hundreds of judges and prosecutors.
Erdoğan said in April he would ask the United States to extradite Gülen, but such a move could only be made after an arrest warrant was issued and evidence of a crime produced.
A Turkish court on Friday kept a media executive close to Gülen, the Presidente of Samanyolu Media Group Hidayet Karaca, and three other people in custody pending trial on accusations of belonging to a terrorist group. The judges also released Zaman's editor-in-chief and seven other people, who were arrested in the last few days in a larger group of journalists. (ANSAmed).
