Turkish foreign minister hopes US extradites members of FETO terror group

By Servet Gunerigok

WASHINGTON (AA) - Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Thursday that he "hopes" Washington will extradite members of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) based in the US.

Speaking at an event to meet members of the Turkish American community and Ahiska Turks in Houston, Texas, Cavusoglu stressed that FETO members are "intensely" present in the city.

Stating that FETO's educational institutions were shut down in many countries and their members were handed over to Türkiye, Cavusoglu said: "I hope the United States will also extradite" them.

The minister said the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has had ongoing investigations in connection with FETO's activities in several US states and added that officials with the US investigative bureau traveled to Ankara and provided their counterparts with information about their work.

"The FBI told us that they saw the dark side of the FETO terrorist organization and that they resorted to all kinds of methods, including human smuggling, irregularities in visas, money laundering," said Cavusoglu.

"I hope the entire US will see what FETO is at the end of these investigations," he added.

FETO orchestrated the July 15, 2016 defeated coup in Türkiye in which 251 people were killed and 2,734 injured.

Ankara accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.