Turkish FM urges US to arrest Gulen

By Sinan Ozmus

ANTALYA, Turkey (AA) - Turkey's foreign minister reiterated Tuesday Ankara's official arrest request to the United States for Fetullah Gulen, who is accused of leading the failed July 15 coup that martyred 240 people.

Mevlut Cavusoglu said once more that Gulen, the leader of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), should be extradited to Turkey to face trial.

He added that all those abroad who are linked to the failed coup will have to account for it in the end.

His remarks came in the southern Antalya province where he went to celebrate Eid al-Adha which started Monday.

He attended a ceremony and exchanged Eid greetings with his Justice and Development (AK) Party officials and residents of the area.

In his address, Cavusoglu stressed Turkey's ongoing fight against Daesh and PKK terrorist organizations, which he said aim to destroy the peaceful environment across the country.

Pointing to Monday's bomb attack in eastern Van province, which left at least 53 people wounded, Cavusoglu asked:

"Why did they attack during the Eid?" He said PKK's real targets are "Muslim and conservative Kurdish brothers".

"The PKK has nothing to do with the rights and culture of Kurds," he noted.

The Turkish minister vowed that the counterterrorism operations would continue until terrorists are completely wiped out inside and outside the country.

About the recent truce deal between the U.S. and Russia, which officially came into effect Monday evening in Syria, he said: "Turkey wants the cease-fire in Syria to be permanent."

"Apparently, the regime [in Syria] do not want to comply with the ceasefire. As soon as it was declared, the regime violated it last night," he said however. "We hope that everybody does their share to ensure that the cease-fire is permanent this time."

The truce deal aims to “reduce violence, ease suffering and resume movement towards a negotiated peace and a political transition in Syria."

All attacks and airstrikes are to be stopped and unobstructed access allowed to besieged areas, including the northern city of Aleppo, as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced.

Turkey's Cavusoglu, recalling that Syrian refugees in Turkey had begun to return to the liberated city of Jarabulus, said life would be normal again in the war-torn country as Daesh terrorists are removed from the region.