Turkey adds exiled Palestinian Dahlan to most wanted list

Mohammed Dahlan has been an outspoken critic of Turkish President Erdogan but has denied Ankara's allegations that he was involved in a 2016 coup attempt.

ISTANBUL - Turkey has added exiled Palestinian politician Mohammed Dahlan to its "red list" of most-wanted terrorism suspects, offering a reward of up to 10 million lira ($1.75 million) for information leading to his capture, the Interior Ministry said on Friday.

Arrest warrants have been issued for Dahlan on accusations of playing a role in the 2016 attempted coup in Turkey, seeking to change the constitutional order by force, and various spying-related charges, the ministry said in a statement.

Dahlan has recently been an outspoken critic of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, but has denied the allegations of involvement in the coup attempt. Dahlan's party condemned the Turkish move on Friday.

"The Democratic Reform Party in Fatah movement views the Turkish decision as a paid incitement to... assassinate Palestinian leader Mohammed Dahlan, and announces its intentions to prosecute Erdogan's regime inside and outside of Turkey," it said in a statement.

Turkey accuses the US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen and his followers of carrying out the failed putsch of July 2016, when rogue soldiers commandeered warplanes, tanks and helicopters in a bid to seize power in which some 250 people were killed.

Dahlan has lived in the United Arab Emirates since he was driven out of the Palestinian territories in 2011 after a row with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who accused him of playing a role in the death of Palestinian resistance leader Yasser Arafat in 2004.

He has been accused by Turkey, a regional rival of the UAE, of working as a "fixer" for the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohammed Bin Zayed, who is the de facto ruler of the emirate.

Turkey and the UAE take opposing stances on a number of regional issues, including on the war in Libya and the spread of political Islam. Turkish officials have accused Dahlan of being an "agent" of Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, who are also considered rivals to Turkey under the Erdogan government.

He was formerly an elected member of Abbas' Fatah party central committee, and was a fierce foe of Hamas, the Islamist group that rules the Gaza Strip and that has forged close ties with Turkey and Qatar.