ALLIES: Turkey formally requests US to arrest Fethullah Gulen.

Turkey’s state-run news agency says the Justice Ministry has sent the United States its first formal request demanding the arrest of the alleged mastermind of July’s abortive coup.

Justice Ministry officials told Anadolu the written request sent to counterparts in Washington alleged the Pennsylvania-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen “gave the orders and commanded” the violent coup that killed over 270 people. Gulen denies any involvement.

Turkish officials have been informally demanding the cleric’s arrest and extradition for weeks.

It will be interesting to see just how far President Obama is willing to go to please our “friends” in Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s post-coup, pre-Islamist government.

And it’s going to be a very tense time around the world until at least January 20, 2017.