A TURKISH citizen wanted for murder in Turkey has been traced to Cyprus and could be extradited if Ankara forwards the necessary papers, Attorney-general Alecos Markides said yesterday.
He told the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) that the government was ready to carry out the extradition if Turkey was ready to respond. Ankara does not recognise Cyprus.
Fisherman Mustafa Muhsuroglu, 38, from Kayseri, in Turkey, was arrested last year and imprisoned for five months for entering the Republic illegally through the occupied areas.
He had only just been released when police picked him up again last Friday following a request from Interpol.
Markides told CNA the authorities were now waiting for official documents from Turkey, under international conventions, in order for the extradition to go ahead.
“In case Turkey does not send the relevant documents, the convict will be deported to a country of his choice,” Markides said.
A police statement said the Turkish authorities had sent a message to Interpol in an effort to trace the whereabouts of Muhsuroglu who is wanted in Turkey for murder.
Muhsuroglu appeared this week before the Nicosia District Court, which ordered his remand until May 14, in order to give Turkey time to send the paperwork required for his extradition.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
