BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syrian Kurdish leader Saleh Muslim was arrested in Prague at the behest of Turkey, the main Kurdish-led political coalition said on Sunday.
Muslim was the co-chair of the PYD party, the major component of the coalition that runs autonomous parts of north Syria. Ankara sees the PYD and its militia affiliate, the YPG, as extensions of the Kurdish PKK movement that has waged a decades-long insurgency on Turkish soil – though the groups say they are independent.
A statement from the TEV-DEM coalition, of which Muslim is a member, said Turkey had issued an arrest warrant for him and he was detained on Saturday. “We condemn this illegal act,” it said.
(Reporting by Ellen Francis; editing by John Stonestreet)
