The White House is weighing legal options to remove an enemy of Turkish President Recep Erdogan, exiled Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, amid diplomatic negotiations to appease Turkey and maintain its Saudi Arabian ally, sources told NBC News.
Turkey had requested Gulen to be turned over at an Oct. 17 meeting between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and President Erdogan, as it has used the murder of Jamal Khashoggi to "ratchet up pressure" on the U.S.
"That was their number one ask," a source told NBC News.
Gulen, holding a U.S. Green Card, has lived in exile in Pennsylvania since the 1990s, criticizing one-time ally Erdogan from afar, according to the report.
"We did talk about Fethullah Gulen," Pompeo said. ". . . It's something that the Turks remind us of often, and we're mindful of places that we can work with them to make sure that we all have a shared set of facts as well. But it's mostly not a State Department issue; it's mostly a Justice Department issue."
The Trump administration has sought ways to legally turn Gulen over to Erdogan, including extradition, in an effort to help "ease pressure on the Saudi government," four sources reportedly told NBC News.
"At first there were eye rolls, but once they realized it was a serious request, the career guys were furious," a senior U.S. official told NBC News.
Turkey denies the connection between Khashoggi's murder and Gulen's extradition, which has long been sought, particularly amid a Turkey coup attempt in 2016 which had been pinned on Gulen, who has denied involvement.
"We definitely see no connection between the two," a Turkish official told NBC News. "We want to see action on the end of the United States in terms of the extradition of Gulen. And we're going to continue our investigation on behalf of the Khashoggi case."
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