Justice Minister in US over Gülen's extradition demand

Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ is set to hold a meeting with U.S. counterpart to discuss the extradition and provisional arrest of Pennsylvania-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen, accused of masterminding the July 2016 coup attempt. 

Prior to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's official visit scheduled to be held between May 15 and 17, Bozdağ departed to the U.S. to discuss the details of Ankara's demand for the extradition of Gülen on May 7. 

"The subject of our meeting will be the provisional arrest of the terrorist head Fethullah Gülen and his extradition. We will eventually take them from where they are placed and bring them to Turkey to deliver them to the Turkish judiciary," Bozdağ said on May 6 in the Central Anatolian province of Yozgat. 

"Some of the prosecutors who are assigned to these files will accompany me in the visit and there will also be some technical meetings," he added. 

During the meeting scheduled for May 8 in Washington, Bozdağ is expected to inform U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions about four separate files previously sent by Ankara over the extradition and provisional arrest of Gülen. 

He said he will also present new evidence supporting the accusation that Gülen was involved in the attempted takeover, as the process between Turkish and U.S. judicial authorities continues. 

On July 19, 2016, Ankara had sent four dossiers on Gülen's extradition at Washington's request and demanded his temporary arrest in September 2016.

A U.S. delegation from the Justice Department came to Ankara at the end of August 2016 to discuss the issue and Bozdağ met with his former counterpart Loretta Lynch in Washington in October 2016.

In February, the minister had sent a letter to Sessions...