In this video, journalist Adem Yavuz Arslan presents a US Justice Department letter responding to Turkey’s request for assistance in the prosecution of a former Turkish civil servant living in the United States.
Turkish authorities sought to question the individual by video link as part of a terrorism case. According to the document, the evidence submitted by Turkey consisted principally of deposits at Bank Asya and support for the Kimse Yok Mu charity — activities Turkish prosecutors cited as evidence of affiliation with the Gülen movement.
The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs concluded that the submitted material did not describe conduct that would justify a terrorism investigation in the United States. It said US authorities could reconsider the request if Turkey provided evidence connecting the individual to violence or other criminal activity, but could not assist on the existing record.
Arslan argues that the response exposes a central weakness in Turkey’s post-coup prosecutions: lawful banking and charitable activity have been used as substitutes for evidence of individual criminal conduct. The video displays the correspondence, dated October 27, 2023, and examines its implications for similar Turkish requests.
