Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday he would ask the United States to extradite an Islamic cleric he accuses of plotting to topple him and undermine Turkey with concocted graft accusations and secret wiretaps.
Such a move against Fethullah Gulen, whose followers say they number in the millions, would be possible only if Turkey first issued an arrest warrant and produced evidence of a crime, according to one legal expert.
But it would be arguably Erdogan's most decisive move yet in a power struggle that has posed one of the biggest challenges of his 11-year rule.