Washington-Ankara Relations to Remain ‘Tense’: British Academic
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A British professor said ties between the US and Turkey will remain “tense” as Ankara cannot provide solid evidence of US-based Turkish opposition figure Fethullah Gulen’s involvement in last month’s failed military coup attempt in Turkey.
"Things are and likely to remain very tense. We'll know more after John Kerry visits Ankara later this month. But things were already tense even before the coup, specifically because of Erdogan's intolerance of political opposition in what is supposed to be a democracy and disagreements over tactics in the effort against ISIS (also known as Daesh and ISIL)," Professor John Peterson of University of Edinburgh, UK, told Tasnim.
"Remember the Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey is key to the US airstrikes in Syria and Iraq. The Obama administration has asked for evidence that Gulen was involved in the coup and said that it would consider an extradition request in light of that evidence. For Erdogan to insinuate that the US was behind the coup really is a major escalation,” he added.
The coup began late on July 15 in Turkey, when a faction of the Turkish military blocked Istanbul's Bosphorus Bridge and strafed the headquarters of the Turkish intelligence agency and parliament in the capital.
Ankara has accused Gulen of being behind the failed coup. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on Washington to extradite Gulen.
Earlier, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Ankara will not compromise with Washington over the extradition of the cleric, warning of rising anti-Americanism if the United States fails to extradite.
"There is no compromise apart from this chief terrorist coming to Turkey and being prosecuted," Yildirim said.
Turkey's foreign minister said this week documents had been sent to the United States and that Turkey had received "positive signals" about Gulen's possible extradition.
The White House said on Saturday that US Vice President Joe Biden would visit Turkey on Aug. 24.
US officials have said that the United States has a formal process for dealing with extradition requests and that Turkey must provide solid evidence of Gulen's involvement.
