US Vice President Joe Biden visited Turkey on Wednesday and said his government is helping a Turkish team prepare a formal extradition request for Fethullah Gulen, the preacher Ankara blames for plotting the July 15 coup attempt.
Gulen, a Turkish Islamic cleric who lives in the United States since 1999, denies the charges. He was a long-time ally of the current Turkish government but they have fallen out in recent years.
"We have no interest whatsoever in protecting anyone who has done harm to an ally, but we need to meet the legal standard requirement under our law," Biden said at a press conference alongside Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim in Ankara.
Biden stressed that only a court can extradite the Turkish born Islamic cleric, based on evidence.
US officials have said that so far Turkey has not supplied any evidence that Gulen was involved in the coup and only filed documents on alleged crimes unrelated to the failed putsch.
Biden staunchly and repeatedly condemned the coup and also insisted, at times sounding angry, that the US had no hand in plotting it, rebuffing conspiracy theories making the rounds in Turkey. The vice president spoke of "unwavering support" for Turkey.
Biden arrived from Latvia and is leaving the same day for Sweden. After meeting Yildirim he was set for session with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to close his visit.
Ankara wants Gulen immediately, raising tensions between the allies.
Biden and Yildirim both said they do not accept a new Kurdish entity on Turkey's border inside Syria.
Turkey has launched a new operation inside Syria, aimed at Islamic State but also Syrian Kurdish forces who have been the key US ally on the ground until now in the war against Daesh.
By Shabtai Gold
