ANKARA: A senior member of the main Kurdish party in northern Syria who is wanted by Turkey has been arrested in Prague.
Salih Muslim, the former co-chairman of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), was added to the Turkish interior ministry’s “Red List” of wanted “terrorists” earlier this month. Turkey offered a $1 million reward for his arrest.
He was detained in the Czech capital on Saturday after a request from Ankara, the Turkish state-run Anadolu Agency reported.He is accused of having links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has fought a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state and is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and the European Union.
Turkey says the PYD, which is the most powerful Kurdish group in northern Syria, is also a terrorist organization directly linked to the PKK.
Ankara is expected to file an extradition request for Muslim.
Muslim recently criticized the Turkish offensive against the armed wing of the PYD in Kurdish-held Afrin in Syria.
Turkey also made a request through Interpol in 2016 for Muslim’s arrest on alleged connections to a bombing in Ankara that killed 28 people. The PKK splinter group the Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK) admitted carrying out the attack and the PYD denied any involvement.
In 2016, the PYD opened several offices in Europe, including Stockholm, Paris and Prague, to establish cooperation with European politicians and gain political support.
Many PYD officials have visited Europe, especially to France, Italy, and Sweden.
The office in Prague closed after just a few months due to the lack of support in the country.
Oytun Orhan, a Syria analyst at ORSAM, a think-tank in Ankara, said the arrest is important in showing that Turkey’s approach to the PYD is recognized by European countries.
“PYD was conducting many political activities in Europe and Prague was one of the first capital cities where it opened an office,” he said. “If these arrests continue and covers other senior officials of PYD, the joint counter-terrorism efforts between Turkey and European countries will take a new momentum.”
Top official from the Syrian-Kurd PYD arrested in Prague
Top official from the Syrian-Kurd PYD arrested in Prague
Syrian authorities arrest leader of terrorist cells in Lattakia
- Ali Aziz Sbeira is accused of violating civilians’ rights during the Syrian uprising after 2011
LONDON: Syrian authorities have arrested Ali Aziz Sbeira, a prominent leader of terrorist cells responsible for attacks on internal security checkpoints, the Syrian army and civilians during the country’s uprising against the former regime of Bashar Assad.
The Internal Security Directorate announced on Wednesday the capture of Sbeira in Lattakia province, located on the Mediterranean Sea.
Authorities accuse him of leading and supplying arms to terrorist groups. Hailing from the town of Jableh, Sbeira is also accused of having links to Ghiyath Dalla and Brigadier General Nours Makhlouf, two military figures associated with the former rule of Assad.
Sbeira is accused of violating civilians’ rights during the Syrian uprising after 2011, when he joined the National Defense Militia and helped suppress peaceful demonstrations, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency.
In 2014, he joined the 4th Armoured Division, which was commanded by Maher Assad, brother of the former president, from 2018 until the collapse of the Assad regime in December 2024.
