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Pro-Erdogan groups call for Brett McGurk's arrest

A no-name group claiming to work against the US-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen has called for the arrest of US diplomat Brett McGurk, the most recent American to be targeted by supporters of the Turkish president.
U.S. envoy to the coalition against Islamic State, Brett McGurk, speaks with media during a briefing to Defeat ISIS and an update on the Coalition's efforts during the 72nd United Nations General Assembly in New York, U.S., September 22, 2017. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz - RC1818FBC0E0

Anti-Americanism in Turkey plumbed new lows today as a Turkish civic association petitioned a court in the western port city of Izmir to issue an arrest warrant for prominent American diplomat Brett McGurk.

A heretofore unknown outfit called "The Platform for Civilian Struggle against the Fethullah Terrorist Organization" was apparently established to work against Fethullah Gulen, the Pennsylvania-based Sunni preacher who is accused of engineering last year’s coup attempt, and his purported terror network known as FETO. It claimed that Brett McGurk, the presidential envoy to the global anti-Islamic State coalition, had sought to “overturn Turkey’s constitutional order” in concert with “terrorists.” These were named as the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is fighting the Turkish army for Kurdish self-rule, and its Syrian allies, the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the latter’s political arm, the Democratic Unity Party.

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