Turkish envoy warns Czech authorities not to release former PYD leader Salih Muslim

ANKARA

Turkey’s ambassador to the Czech Republic has warned Czech authorities that a ruling to release former Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) co-leader Salih Muslim would be considered a move that would tantamount to supporting terrorism.

His statement came a day before a Czech court is scheduled to decide on whether the detained PYD leader will be temporarily arrested or released.

“We don’t even want to think that he would be released. Because, let me be frank, releasing him would be interpreted as support to terrorism,” Ahmet Necati Bigalı told the state-run Anadolu Agency in an interview late Feb. 26.

Muslim was detained by the Czech police late on Feb. 24 at the request of Turkish authorities.

Turkey accuses the former PYD leader of “attempting to disrupt the unity and territorial integrity of the state” through a series of terror attacks on Turkish soil which claimed the lives of scores of civilians.

Muslim is on the Turkish Interior Ministry’s “most wanted terrorists” list.

Turkey said anyone giving solid information on Muslim’s whereabouts would be entitled to a 4 million Turkish Lira ($15. 1 million) reward.

In a separate interview to daily Hürriyet on Feb. 26, Bigalı said: “We request his arrest and extradition. If there is a rule for extradition he can be arrested for 40 days according to European conventions. Our ministry will send the necessary files for the extradition within this timeframe.”