The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has started working on investigating the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ)'s network in the U.S. in 15 states and has already made arrests in the state of New Jersey, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Monday.
The news comes after U.S. President Donald Trump told President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Saturday that Washington was working on extraditing Fetullah Gülen, the U.S.-based leader of FETÖ.
Speaking at the plenary session of the Parliament for the 2019 central government budget, Çavuşoğlu said that Turkey has demanded the extradition of 84 people linked to the FETÖ in talks with the U.S. "We bring up the issue of 84 people we officially requested to be extradited in every meeting [with U.S. officials]. Our President brought it up in Argentina [at the meeting with Trump on the sidelines of the G20 Summit]. Trump specifically said 'we are working for the extradition of the FETÖ terrorist leader.' There is a reality about FETÖ; there is an investigation by the FBI in nearly 15 U.S. states. FBI told us that they begin to see the dark side of the FETÖ through the findings. Arrests have begun in some places," Çavuşoğlu said.
FETÖ staged the July 15, 2016 coup attempt to overthrow the democratically elected Turkish government, in which 251 people were killed and more than 2,200 people were injured. The terrorist group is also accused of using its members in the police and the judiciary to launch two other coup attempts on Dec. 17 and Dec. 25 in 2013, under the guise of graft probes, in addition to sham trials launched against its adversaries using illegal or fake evidence and trumped-up charges.
The U.S. remains the main hub of FETÖ activity, where the shadowy group operates hundreds of charter schools and affiliated companies, providing visa and employment opportunities for thousands of its followers. Gülen has lived in self-imposed exile in a secluded compound in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania since 1999.
