Turkey Warns Against Release Of Saleh Muslim

Prague, Feb 26 (CTK) – The release of Kurdish politician Salih Muslim, detained in Prague on Saturday, could have a negative influence on Czech-Turkish relations, Turkish Ambassador Ahmet Bigali told journalists today.

 

Turkey respects independence of Czech courts, but the man is suspected of terrorism, Bigali said.

 

Unfortunately, this [Muslim’s release] would be a support for terrorism. It would not be good for bilateral relations of Turkey and the Czech Republic, now perfect, he added.

 

Muslim was detained on the basis of an Interpol warrant of arrest in Prague.

 

Muslim is a former co-chairman of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the driving Kurdish political force in Northern Syria. Ankara put him on the list of the most wanted terrorists.

 

Kurds say Muslim was involved in the diplomatic sphere in the struggle against Islamic State.

 

Bigali said the Turkish request to have Muslim extradited was not connected with the case of two Czech citizens, convicted of cooperation with Syrian Kurds last year.

 

Last year, a Turkish court imposed more than six-year-long prison sentences on Marketa Vselichova and Miroslav Farkas for cooperation with Syrian Kurds.

 

The Czech Republic will take a standard and fair approach in accordance with law in the case of Muslim, Foreign Minister Martin Stropnicky told journalists.

 

He said he was going to tell this to Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, probably on Tuesday.