Turkey hopes for Gülen extradition, more support in terror fight from Trump administration: Yıldırım

ANKARA

Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım on Jan. 20 reiterated Ankara’s key demands from the new U.S. administration under president-elect Donald Trump, hours before the 45th President’s inauguration, particularly underlining the extradition of Pennsylvania-based preacher Fethullah Gülen, accused of masterminding the July 2016 coup attempt.

“May it be beneficial. We wish for Mr. Trump’s success. There are high expectations in many parts of the world from the new administration. The leading countries of the world, the U.S. and Russia, bear a significant responsibility for global peace, tranquility and security. We expect them to give more support to Turkey’s efforts in making peace in the region permanent,” Yıldırım told reporters in Ankara after Friday prayers.

He highlighted what he described as the “well-rooted” relationship between Ankara and Washington, while also noting recent “mistakes” between the two countries.

“We believe this situation will be removed in the new administration. We hope steps will be taken primarily to extradite [Gülen], the architect of the cowardly coup attempt and to stop giving support to terror organizations in the name of fighting DEASH [the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant],” Yıldırım said, referring to U.S. support for the Democratic Union Party (PYD), a Syrian Kurdish affiliate of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
 
“Tough days are ahead of Mr. Trump. The decisions and steps that he will take in terms of transforming the global economic crisis into global prosperity will be significant,” he added.