Bulgarian judges consider extraditing German to Turkey
Mehmet Y., who has dual German-Turkish citizenship, has been under house arrest in a Bulgarian hotel since September 5. Officials in Ankara want him extradited. If that request is granted, he’s likely to end up in jail.
It was supposed to be a nice vacation by the Black Sea. But, on September 2, Mehmet Y. was taken into custody upon his arrival with his wife in Varna, a seaside resort in Bulgaria. He was detained at the airport until September 4 and then taken to a jail in downtown Varna. The next day, he was released and put under house arrest at the hotel where he and his wife were going to spend their holiday. He hasn’t left it since.
Mehmet, 44, was wanted by Turkish authorities. In 1999, according to media reports, a court in the city of Adana had sentenced him to 12 and a half years in jail in absentia for supporting the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is banned and considered a terror group by Turkey’s government. Because Mehmet was not in the country, officials in Ankara put an Interpol warrant out for his arrest.
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