Turkish FM meets Trump’s national security advisor

WASHINGTON – Anadolu Agency

AP photo

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Jan. 18 that he met with incoming U.S. National Security Advisor, retired Gen. Michael Flynn, and other officials in Washington. 

Çavuşoğlu tweeted he had a “working breakfast” with Flynn but it was not immediately clear who else was in attendance. 

He said he hopes relations between Ankara and Washington would gain momentum with the new U.S. administration. 
       
Expected to be on Çavuşoğlu’s agenda while in Washington is the extradition of U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen, whom the Turkish government accuses of being the mastermind behind a group of people mainly from the Turkish military that sought to overthrow the government on July 15, 2016 in an attempted coup. 

Ankara has said Gülen’s network was behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the government through its infiltration in Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary. 

Flynn on Nov. 8, 2016, the day of the U.S. presidential election, wrote in a piece for the Hill newspaper that the U.S. should not provide a safe haven for Gülen. 

“The forces of radical Islam derive their ideology from radical clerics like Gülen, who is running a scam. We should not provide him safe haven,” Flynn wrote.