Turkey formally requests extradition of former PYD leader
Turkey has formally asked Czech authorities to extradite Salih Muslim, a former leader of major Kurdish group the Democratic Union Party (PYD), who has been held in custody.
Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said Monday that documents had been submitted to Prague to demand the extradition of Muslim, who was detained Saturday under an Interpol red notice based on a Turkey’s request for his arrest.
The state-run Anadolu news agency also cited Turkish Ambassador to Prague Ahmet Necati Bigali as saying that a court in the Czech capital would decide on Tuesday whether Muslim should remain in detention.
Sources close to the PYD leadership said Muslim was attending a conference in Prague and authorities reportedly arrested him after a Turkish participant took a photograph of him.
Turkey put Muslim on its most-wanted list earlier this month and said his arrest would be rewarded with a prize of $1 million. Prosecutors brought fresh charges against Muslim on Monday, saying he, along with 30 other people, was behind a bomb attack on a tax office in Ankara earlier this month. Turkey blamed the attack, which had no death casualties, on suspected Kurdish militants and arrested nine people in connection with the case.
Turkey views the PYD, and its militant wing the People's Protection Units (YPG), as terrorist groups linked to Kurdish militants fighting for an autonomous region in the southeast of the country.
The Turkish military launched an incursion into northern Syrian territories last month with the aim of clearing the Kurdish-dominated region of Afrin from YPG militants. Despite suffering significant losses and effectively failing to reach its objectives, Ankara has announced that its next step would be to push back Kurds from east of the Euphrates to drive a wedge between the Kurdish dominated regions.
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