ANKARA (Sputnik) — Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim expressed confidence on Friday that Turkey will succeed in bringing US-based dissident Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen back to the country.
Earlier in the day, White House spokesperson Eric Schultz said that US authorities are assessing the request by the Turkish government to extradite Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of masterminding a recent coup plot.
"We will bring back the perpetrator of the coup — a leader of terrorist group [Gulen] who is now at the United States," he was quoted as saying by the NTV broadcaster.
On July 15, the coup attempt took place in Turkey and was suppressed the following day. Over 240 people were killed and more than 2,100 injured during the failed coup excluding the victims among the coup plotters, according to the country's authorities.
Turkish officials have accused Gulen, who has lived in the US state of Pennsylvania since 1999, of orchestrating the failed military coup and are demanding his extradition by the United States.
