Turkey issues arrest warrant for former CIA official over failed coup

ISTANBUL, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Turkish authorities on Friday issued an arrest warrant for Graham Fuller, a former official with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), over his alleged role in a coup attempt in Turkey last year, local media said.

Fuller was allegedly in Turkey when the country was jolted by a coup bid launched by some in the military on the night of July 15, 2016 and left after the attempt failed hours later, the Hurriyet Daily News said, citing the arrest warrant.

The arrest warrant issued by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office accuses Fuller, a former vice chairman of the National Intelligence Council at the CIA, of "attempting to overthrow the government of the Republic of Turkey and obstructing the duties of the Republic of Turkey," "obtaining state information that must be kept secret for political and military espionage purposes" and "attempting to overthrow the constitutional order" in Turkey.

Ankara blames Fethullah Gulen, a U.S.-based Turkish cleric, for the coup attempt, in which 250 people were killed.

In April, Turkey targeted, among others, former CIA director John Brennan, Senator Chuck Schumer from New York and Henri Barkey, director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington D.C., in the investigation into a network led by Gulen. Enditem