Romania decides to extradite two Turkish policemen
ANKARA - Anadolu Agency
A Romanian court has decided to extradite two Turkish police officers in Bucharest, who are wanted by Turkey for allegedly bugging the then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's office in 2014, their lawyers said March 20.The two detained Turkish police officers are still in Romania and their defense attorney said that they would file an appeal in Bucharest for the reversal of the court's decision.
The final decision of the court regarding the police officers, who applied Romania for asylum, will come within 20 days, the lawyers said.
In February, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said that two members of the Turkish police force had been detained in Romania on suspicion of being involved in the bugging of Erdoğan's office during his tenure as prime minister.
Erdoğan was elected President in August 2014.
The officers were named as Sedat Zavar, a Turkish police chief, and officer İlker Usta, who reportedly fled abroad to avoid being questioned as part of an operation in Turkey to dismantle what the Turkish governmed labelled as the "parallel structure."
Romanian authorities were keeping Zavar and Usta under detention as their legal case continued in the country.
According to the Turkish government, the "parallel structure" refers to a purported group of Turkish bureaucrats and senior officials embedded in the country's institutions, including the judiciary and police, who are allegedly linked to U.S.-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gülen.
The ongoing operation against the organization has resulted in the detention of dozens of police officers and the reassignment of hundreds of other officers across Turkey.
