04 January 2018•Update: 05 January 2018
By Murat Paksoy
ANKARA
Turkey has issued an extradition request to the U.S. for an alleged FETO-linked fugitive Huseyin Korkmaz, a judicial source said on Thursday.
Istanbul’s Prosecutor Office issued an arrest warrant for Korkmaz, demanding his extradition from the U.S., said the source, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.
The extradition request has been submitted to the Justice Ministry, which will send it to the U.S. judicial authorities, it added.
Korkmaz is a central figure of an investigation into Dec. 17-25, 2013 cases pertaining to the “FETO judicial coup attempt of Dec. 17-25." The attempt led to the detention of prominent figures.
The extradition request came after Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul called for bringing back Korkmaz, a former Turkish police supervisor who fled to the U.S. after being released in February 2016 to testify before the U.S. court in a case involving former Turkish banker Mehmet Hakan Atilla.
Korkmaz faces several charges including “being member of an armed terror group” and “attempting to overthrow the government of the Republic of Turkey."
On Wednesday, a jury in New York found Atilla guilty on five counts related to conspiracy and bank fraud but acquitted him of a money laundering charge.
The verdict by a panel of six men and six women against Atilla, the 47-year-old former deputy chief executive officer of Turkey’s Halkbank, came after more than three weeks of testimonies and four days of deliberation.
The counts on which the banker was declared guilty included violation of U.S. sanctions against Iran, crimes to deceive the U.S. and defrauding U.S. banks.
