Turkey's Justice Ministry sent a dossier to the United States after repeated calls by President Tayyip Erdogan for the extradition of Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen, whom he blames for a failed coup attempt, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Tuesday.
Speaking to members of his party in parliament, Yildirim did not say whether the dossier amounted to an official extradition request for Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since the late 1990s.
Turkey purged its police after rounding up thousands of soldiers in the wake of a failed military coup, and said it could reconsider its friendship with the US unless Washington hands over a cleric Ankara blames for the putsch.
Nearly 20,000 members of the police, civil service, judiciary and army have been detained or suspended since Friday night's coup, in which more than 200 people were killed when a faction of the armed forces tried to seize power. The broad crackdown and calls to reinstate the death penalty for plotters drew concern from Western allies who said Ankara must uphold the rule of law in the country, a NATO member whose cooperation in the fight against Islamic State (ISISI) is crucial to Washington.
