Syrian Kurdish leader Saleh Muslim,
Ankara, March 5, 2018 (AFP) – Turkey has sent Germany a formal request for the arrest and extradition of Syrian Kurdish leader Saleh Muslim, a few days after his brief arrest in the Czech Republic at Ankara’s request. reported Monday the state agency Anadolu.
The request to “arrest and extradite” Mr. Muslim was sent to Germany where he surrendered after his release by the Czech authorities, according to Anadolu.
This request was made in connection with a car bomb that killed 36 people in Ankara in March 2016, claimed by Kurdish militants, according to Anadolu. A Turkish court last week called for the arrest of Mr Muslim for his alleged involvement in the attack.
Co-chair until last year of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), Muslim, described by Turkey as “leader of a terrorist group”, was arrested on 24 February in Prague, where he participated in a meeting.
Turkey had immediately requested his extradition, but was released three days later, “promising” that he would not leave the territory of the European Union.
Muslim was later seen in Berlin on Saturday during a demonstration against Turkey’s offensive against the PYD’s People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Afrine Canton (north-west from Syria).
The PYD and the YPG are considered by Ankara as an extension in Syria of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), an organization classified as “terrorist” by Turkey and its Western allies.
Images of the Saturday demonstration showed flags of the YPG, as well as portraits of the PKK’s historical leader, Abdullah Öcalan, who has been held in Turkey since 1999.
A video posted on Facebook by the PYD Berlin also showed Mr. Muslim taking a speech during this event where he said: “We believe in judges in Europe. The games (…) of Turkey will never work in Europe. I am now free, and will be until we get the victory in Afrine and Syria. “
Since November 2016 Saleh Muslim has been the subject of an arrest warrant issued by the Turkish authorities, in connection with another attack in Ankara in February 2016 (29 dead), for which he denied any involvement. He faces 30 life sentences if he is tried in Turkey. His release in Prague angered the Turkish authorities, who called the decision “scandalous” and “unacceptable”.
Monday, March 5, 2018,