Interpol has rejected Ankara's request to issue international wanted notices for U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen by suspending Turkey's authorization to access database in the aftermath of July 15 failed coup attempt, AKP government says.
There is no red notice issued for Gülen, the leader of Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), Sözcü Newspaper’s Ankara representative Saygı Öztürk wrote on Sunday.
"When I asked the Ministry of Justice they said: 'Fethullah Gülen lives in the United States and his adress is known. For the ones whose adress is not known, a red notice would be issued in order to be sought on an international level. At this point, there is no need for red notice demand documents to be sent. Turkey and United States has an agreement for that' " he wrote.
Gülen had been a close ally of Erdoğan, helping him to redesign and install his Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) in power in 2002. But his alliance with the AKP has faltered in recent years. On 15 July 2016, CIA-linked Gülen network, which is also an Islamic cult, attempted to topple down Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan by a military coup but it failed.
There are cases where the demand for issuing a red notice is refused for different reasons, according to Öztürk's column.
The Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Interior of Turkey on Sunday issued a statement on these claims.
"Interpol is not entering the passport cancellation of the military coup attempters to the system and disabled Turkey to add new information. Likewise, the demands for issuing the red notice for military coup attempters was taken to a halt since 2016 and at the end were refused by Interpol. The reason Interpol is not effectively used is Interpol's insisting on refusing to declare the millitary coup attempters as terrorists," the joint statement said.
However, it is not clear whether or not the Turkish government had requested Interpol red notices for Gülen.
In 2007, Ankara's move to upload 60,000 'wanted' supporters of the Gülenist movement on Interpol’s database had caused the suspension of Turkey’s use of the infrastructure, local media reported. Supposedly, Interpol said that the Turkey request raised an "issue of trust" and suspended its access in July 2016. However, a day later, Interpol denied this report.
The database, where countries upload the passport information of wanted persons, is also known as the law-enforcement database of Interpol. Just as the passport number of any wanted person is identified by the system anywhere in the world, Interpol takes action and surveillance is applied for the fugitive person.
