The U.S. State Department and officials in the government of Turkey both rejected reports Thursday suggesting that Ankara is attempting to tie the investigation into the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi to its crusade against Islamic cleric Fethullah Gülen, who has resided in the United States for decades.
A report published by NBC News on Thursday claimed that the Turkish government was using its position in the Khashoggi investigation to pressure the United States into extraditing Gülen, who President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accuses of running a terrorist organization responsible for the 2016 failed coup d’etat against him. Unnamed sources told NBC that Turkish officials had begun suggesting they would ease their pressure on the Saudi government in return for Gülen being returned to Turkish territory.
Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor and critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS), disappeared in October after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul seeking marriage documentation. The Saudi government initially claimed he had left the consulate before disappearing but has since relented and admitted that Saudi agents in the consulate killed him. Riyadh has exonerated MBS personally of having any ties to the killing and has not divulged a body.
Turkish officials have insisted that MBS organized Khashoggi’s killing and must face political consequences for acting against a journalist. The government of Turkey is currently the most prolific jailer of journalists in the world, often targeting voices critical of Erdogan by accusing them of working in tandem with Gülen.
Yeni Safak, one of Turkey’s most fervent pro-Erdogan publications, reported on Friday that unnamed officials in the country rejected the NBC News report as “not accurate.”
“At no point did Turkey offer to hold back on the Khashoggi investigation in return for Fethullah Gülen’s extradition,” the unnamed official reportedly told the newspaper. “We have no intention to intervene in the Khashoggi investigation in return for any political or legal favor.” The individual reportedly referred to Khashoggi and Gülen as “separate issues.”
During her regular press briefing on Thursday, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert similarly dismissed the idea that the Turks were attempting to mix the two issues.
“We have received multiple requests from the Turkish Government, at least over the time that I’ve been here, related to Mr. Gülen. We continue to evaluate the materials that the Turkish Government presents requesting his extradition,” Nauert told reporters. “I’ve seen some news reports where people are trying to conflate the two, Saudi Arabia and Turkey with Khashoggi and Gülen, and there is no relation.”
“Let me also add, because I’ve spoken to some of my White House colleagues about this, the White House has not been involved in any discussions related to the extradition of Fethullah Gülen,” Nauert concluded.
NBC News reported that Turkish officials did not appear to believe that Gülen had any ties to the events in the Saudi consulate, but floated the idea of relenting on pressuring the Saudi government to extradite the individuals believed to be involved in Khashoggi’s killing in exchange for having Gülen handed over to their justice system. Turkish prosecutors have demanded over 3,600 life sentences for Gülen alleging that he was the mastermind behind the 2016 failed coup. The U.S. government, under both President Barack Obama and Donald Trump, has asserted that the Erdogan government has not offered any evidence showing that Gülen was tied to that coup attempt.
At the time, the leaders of the coup released a letter identifying themselves not as Islamic Gülen followers, but secularists within the nation’s military seeking to prevent Erdogan from undoing the legacy of Republic of Turkey founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who insisted on eradicating Islam from the country’s laws.
NBC News accused the Trump administration of requesting law enforcement to research whether it was possible to extradite Gülen, or at least remove him from U.S. soil, despite his status as a permanent legal resident.
Notably, the National Security Council and the Turkish government both told NBC News in statements that they had no information regarding such conversations and were not discussing the Gülen and Khashoggi cases simultaneously. Several other branches of the U.S. government and a representative for Fethullah Gülen refused to comment.