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2nd LD Writethru: Turkish president urges Obama to extradite leader of opposition movement

Xinhua, July 17, 2016 Adjust font size:

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday reiterated a call for his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama to hand over the leader of an opposition movement accused of being behind the coup attempt in Turkey.

"Please meet our request if we are strategic partners," Erdogan said in remarks delivered in Istanbul.

The Turkish leader has blamed the movement led by Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish Islamic scholar living in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, for the unsuccessful coup that started on Friday night.

"I asked you previously either to deport him or surrender him to Turkey," Erdogan said, referring to Obama. "I told you that he is considering the coup d'etat, but you didn't listen."

The Turkish leader's audience chanted, demanding "the execution of Fethullah."

Ankara has been accusing the Gulen Movement of running a parallel state and trying to topple the Turkish government.

As many as 2,839 Turkish troops are now detained over suspected involvement in the failed coup, but Erdogan stated that "The Turkish army does not belong to the parallel structure."

The president urged his audience to shun schools run by the Gulen Movement for their children.

Erdogan's extradition request is expected to further heighten tensions between Anraka and Washington, as the NATO allies have long been in dispute over the treatment of Kurds in Syria. Endit