US President Donald Trump did not pledge to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to extradite exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen, a White House official said Monday.
Reports had emerged that Trump had made the promise to Erdogan at the G20 summit two weeks ago.
“While meeting with President Erdogan at the G20, the president did not commit to extradite Fethullah Gulen,” a senior White House official stated on condition of anonymity.
On Sunday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Trump told Erdogan at their meeting in Buenos Aires that the United States “was working on extraditing Gulen and other people.”
Erdogan blames Gulen for a failed military coup in 2016.
Turkey has long sought the extradition of Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed US exile for nearly two decades.
Gulen denies any involvement in the failed coup.
Meanwhile, two business associates of Michael Flynn, Trump's former national security adviser, were charged Monday with illegally lobbying for Turkey as part of a campaign to pressure the US to expel Gulen.
Bijan Kian and Ekim Alptekin are accused in an indictment of conspiring to "covertly and unlawfully" influence US public opinion and politicians, all while concealing that the Turkish government was directing their work.
Both men are charged with conspiracy and acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government. Alptekin is also charged with lying during an interview with the FBI.
The indictment brought by federal prosecutors in Virginia accuses the two men of using Alptekin's company as a cutout to disguise the Turkish government's involvement. Prosecutors say that Turkish officials approved the budget for the $600,000 lobbying contract and received regular progress reports.
The indictment does not say Turkey's government directly funded the effort, but it raises questions about an unusual payment arrangement revealed last year.
The campaign came during the final months of the 2016 presidential campaign while Flynn was a top surrogate for Trump's campaign.
