Two former associates of Michael Flynn charged with illegal lobbying to have Gulen extradited to Turkey

This is the one thing I’ve never understood about Michael Flynn. Yes I think he’s a patriot it a lot of ways, but working with these people to lobby for extradition of Gulen to Turkey is ridiculous. Even the Obama administration refused to accept Erdogan’s claims that Gulen was responsible for the phony coup:



Here’s more:

Two men involved in a Turkish lobbying campaign led by former National Security adviser Michael Flynn have been charged with illegally lobbying in a case related to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

The case unsealed Monday against Flynn’s former business partner, Bijan Kian, and Turkish businessman, Ekim Alptekin, accuses the two men of conspiring to “covertly and unlawfully” influence U.S. politicians on behalf of Turkey.

The new charges appear to shed light on the cooperation of Flynn, who last year admitted to lying about several aspects of the lobbying work. In recommending he serve no prison time, prosecutors said Flynn not only helped with the Russia probe but also an undisclosed — and separate — criminal investigation. Documents filed alongside that recommendation spend several paragraphs laying out the details of Flynn’s Turkish lobbying.

Kian, whose full name is Bijan Rafiekian, was arrested and made an initial appearance Monday in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia. He is indicted on charges including failing to register as a foreign agent. Alptekin, a dual Turkish-Dutch citizen living in Istanbul whose full name is Kamil Ekim Alpetekin, remains at large.

According to the indictment, Kian was vice chairman of Flynn’s business group, the Flynn Intel Group. The two worked throughout 2016 to seek ways to have cleric Fethullah Gulen extradited from the U.S. to Turkey.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Gulen of directing a failed coup. Flynn is referred to in the indictment only as “Person A.”

Kian’s lawyer, Robert Trout, declined comment after Monday’s hearing. Kian was released on a personal recognizance bond pending an arraignment scheduled for Tuesday.

Alptekin is also charged with failing to register as a foreign agent and also making false statements.

The indictment describes Kian and Flynn as co-founders of Alexandria-based Flynn Intel Group, which is listed in the indictment only as “Company A.” It accuses Kian and Alptekin of illegally lobbying in the U.S. to discredit Gulen and have him extradited. According to the indictment, Alptekin worked at the direction of the Turkish government, but the defendants worked to conceal that fact.

 
In a related matter, let me point out that CNN reports that there’s no sign that the US is actually moving to extradite Gulen, despite what Turkey’s foreign minister says:

In an interview at the Doha Forum on Sunday, Cavusoglu asserted that US President Donald Trump told Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the G20 summit in Argentina this month that the US was “working on” the extradition of Gulen.

However, there’s no sign from Washington that the US is moving towards extraditing Gulen. Last month, the State Department said the US had received multiple requests from the Turkish government and continued to evaluate materials presented.

It sounds like Turkey is simply conflating the fact that the US is evaluating Turkey’s ‘evidence’ with actually working on extradition. It would be a travesty if Turkey’s FM was correct, but I don’t believe it now and won’t until I hear it from the Trump administration.


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