TIRANA, March 29 – Turkish Minister of Food, Agriculture and Livestock Faruk à‡elik has urged Albania to be wary of the influence followers of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkey has accused of organising the coup against the government there last year.
“They need to be very careful. Albania is in fact going through a very sensitive process. It seems that a terrorist organization in Turkey that can’t reach its goals and can’t find safe haven anymore is making a great effort to carve out new areas for itself,” à‡elik told Anadolu Agency while visiting Tirana in an effort to boost bilateral trade between the two countries.
Turkey says Gulen and his followers orchestrated the coup that left 249 people dead and 2,200 injured. According to authorities, Gulen followers infiltrated Turkish military, police and judiciary in an attempt to overthrow the state.
The Turkish minister said that members of Gulen’s organization are hiding in Albania and that the government is aware of this.
“As a friendly country, we provide them the information. The rest is their own responsibility,” said à‡elik, underlining that Turkey does not interfere in the internal affairs of any country, including ones in the Balkans.
Last year, Turkey delivered to Albania a list of institutions and individuals that receive financing from Gulen and his organization, which is referred to by Turkey as the
Turkish officials also plan to send a list of periodical payments that Gà¼len supporters have allegedly made to several beneficiaries in Tirana. These sources claim that a very important person in Albania who financially supports several websites in the country has been paying a lot of money for news reports criticizing Turkish President Recep Tayip ErdoÄŸan.
Gà¼len was formerly a close ally of ErdoÄŸan’s government, but they had a massive falling-out in late 2013. Since then, Gà¼len and his movement designated as a terrorist group in Turkey, have emerged as one of the government’s targets.
Authorities are also preparing a formal extradition request to United States to seek the return of the cleric to his homeland to face charges.
