U.S. President Donald Trump told his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Washington “would take a look at” the possibility of extraditing a U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, but he made no commitment, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said.
"The only thing he said is that we would take a look at it. Nothing further at this point beyond that ... nothing committal at all in that process," Reuters cited Sanders as saying.
Asked about the comment, another White House official said only that Trump did not commit to extraditing Gulen when he spoke to Erdogan at the Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires last month. The official offered no further detail on the conversation.
Earlier, Turkey’s foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Trump told Erdogan that Washington was working on extraditing the cleric, Fethullah Gulen, a former Erdogan ally who has lived in self-imposed U.S. exile for nearly two decades.
Turkish officials blame Gulen for a failed coup in Turkey, but Gulen denies any involvement.
