Syrian Kurdish leader detained in Prague on Turkey's request
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BEIRUT - Czech authorities detained a former leader of a Syrian Kurdish political party under an Interpol red notice that was based on Turkey's request for his arrest, Turkish and Syrian Kurdish officials said Sunday.
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Salih Muslim, former co-chair of the Democratic Union Party, or PYD, was "caught." Speaking in Sanliurfa Sunday, Erdogan said, "Our hope, God willing, is that the Czech Republic will hand him over to Turkey."
Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said Turkey requested Muslim's detention for extradition after locating him in a Prague hotel. Bozdag called Muslim the "terrorist head."
A Kurdish official close to Muslim, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the former PYD leader was in Prague attending a conference. After a Turkish participant took a photograph of him, Czech police detained the Syrian politician Saturday, following a request by Turkey.
Czech police say that have arrested and placed in detention a 67-year-old foreigner at the request of Turkey's Interpol. No further details were immediately released by Czech police.
