Parliament wrote a letter calling for the extradition of Fetullah Gülen, the leader of the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), in response to the letter that was sent to President Recep Tayyıp Erdoğan by the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives asking for the release of imprisoned American Pastor Brunson.
Addressed to U.S. President Donald Trump, the parliamentarians' letter asks for the extradition of Gülen along with 40 other high-ranking FETÖ suspects to Turkey. "FETO mobilizes all its sources to poison our relations with ally countries, and its pawns walk around the U.S. Congress' corridor to make anti-Turkey propaganda," the letter says.
The letter also emphasized that FETÖ members were invited as witnesses in the case of Mehmet Hakan Atilla, the deputy general manager of state-owned Halkbank, who was sentenced to 32 months in prison on Wednesday in a New York court for his part in a sanctions-busting scheme.
Signed by the president of the foreign relations commission in Parliament, Volkan Bozkır, the letter will be sent to Trump after the signatures are complete.
In two letters addressed to Erdoğan on April 20 and May 4, U.S. senators called for the release of imprisoned American Pastor Andrew Craig Brunson, held on charges of espionage and aiding the PKK terrorist group and FETÖ.