January 04, 2018•Update: January 04, 2018
ANKARA
More than 100 criminals from 32 countries were extradited to Turkey in 2017, according to security sources.
The extraditions were made possible through the coordination of Turkish police with foreign interlocutors.
The Security General Directorate's Interpol-Europol Department also had 81 people extradited in 2016 and 91 in 2015.
The most number of convicts, 17, were extradited from Germany. Georgia followed with 13 extraditions, Azerbaijan with 11 and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) with 10.
Bulgaria, Romania, Saudi Arabia, and Ukraine extradited four criminals each.
Also, some 21 suspects were also extradited to Turkey, including three each from Azerbaijan and Spain, two each from the U.K., Tajikistan, and Sweden, and one each from Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, France, Morocco, Macedonia, Paraguay, Austria, Germany, and Serbia.
Eleven of the suspects were accused of being members of Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), 23 for drug-smuggling and two suspects were accused of terror charges.
For the first time, Peru, Kosovo, Montenegro, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, and China each extradited one suspect wanted for trafficking and terror charges.
Turkish police also made possible the extradition of senior FETO members from one each from Malaysia, Northern Cyprus, Thailand, and Bahrain, and two PKK terrorists each from Lebanon and Syria.
FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup on July 15, 2016, which left 250 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.
Ankara also accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.
Several others were extradited from Turkey including seven alleged drug traffickers and four accused of murder.
The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey as well as the U.S. and EU. In its more than three-decade terror campaign against Turkey, more than 40,000 people have been killed.
Reporting by Sertac Bulur and Orhan Onur Gemici:Writing by Kubra Chohan
