While mainstream media wrote that Flynn was a ‘Kremlin agent’, he actually was a Turkey’s lobbyist.
Michael Flynn, a former national security advisor of US President Donald Trump (Photo: AFP 2017 / Mandel Ngan)
Michael Flynn, a former national security advisor of US President Donald Trump, met with representatives of the Turkish government in September of the last year and discussed with them the issue of an extradition of an opposition Islamic preacher, Fethullah Gulen, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a former head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), James Woolsey, who attended the meeting.
According to the newspaper, Woolsey said that a possibility of Gulen’s sending to Turkey without a formal extradition process was discussed during the meeting. According to his words, the son-in-law of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu also attended the meeting.
“It seemed to be naive. I didn’t put a lot of credibility in it. This is a country of legal process and a Constitution, and you don’t send out folks to haul somebody overseas,” the newspaper quoted Woolsey’s comments on the meeting.
A representative of Flynn, Price Floyd, said that the Trump’s ex-adviser “never discussed illegal activities, illegal extradition or other similar actions,” the newspaper reported.
The New York Times newspaper reported that in the framework of his lobbying activities, Flynn collected information about Gulen, who is accused by Ankara of organizing a coup attempt in Turkey in July 2016. Earlier, it became known that Flynn registered in the US Justice Department as a lobbyist in the interests of Turkey. At the same time, as it was noted, he completed this work before the November’s presidential elections in the US. It was reported that the Flynn’s company received about $500,000 for these services.
Flynn resigned after press speculated that the General misinformed US Vice President Mike Pence and other administration officials about his communication with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.