US to consider extraditing Gulen over Karlov murder

By Safvan Allahverdi

WASHINGTON

The U.S. will decide whether to extradite Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) leader Fetullah Gulen to Turkey in connection with the 2016 assassination of the Russian ambassador in Ankara when Turkey submits the relevant documents, a report said Monday.

"We will review any materials the Turkish government may provide in this regard and will make any decisions about extradition on the basis or the facts and relevant U.S. laws," Justice Department spokesperson Nicole Navas Oxman told Russian state-run news agency Tass.

Andrei Karlov was assassinated on Dec. 19, 2016 by Mevlut Mert Altintas, an off-duty police officer with links to the FETO terrorist group, which also orchestrated the July 15 coup attempt two years ago.

Karlov was delivering a speech at the Contemporary Arts Gallery in Ankara's central Cankaya district when the assassin opened fire on the diplomat, critically wounding him.

He was rushed to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Altintas was killed in a subsequent shootout with police in the gallery.

The assassination occurred at a time when Turkish-Russian relations were being restored. An investigation found that the assassin was linked to FETO, which tried to portray the murder as the work of an extremist group.

Turkish prosecutors said Altintas personally knew Gulen. Five people, including three police officers, were arrested in a probe into Karlov’s killing.

FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016 in Turkey which left 250 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.

Ankara also accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.