Eli Lake, Columnist

U.S.-Turkey Tension Over Cleric Explodes After Coup

Erdogan wants Obama to extradite a rival who is living in Pennsylvania. But the State Department insists on evidence that he was involved in the uprising.

July 18, 2016 at 10:00 AM UTC

By Eli Lake

Eli Lake is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering national security and foreign policy. He was the senior national security correspondent for the Daily Beast and covered national security and intelligence for the Washington Times, the New York Sun and UPI.

Erdogan's supporters fault the U.S.
Photographer: BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images

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Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has accused a Muslim cleric in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains of plotting this weekend's military coup, and some Turkish officials accuse the U.S. of playing a role.

The cleric, Fethullah Gulen, denies he was involved, and the State Department denies the U.S. was. Even so, the failed coup and subsequent accusations turn a minor irritant in U.S.-Turkey relations into a crisis.