Turkey reacts sharply to Albania: Markets a bad example in fighting terrorism

The release of Turkish citizens a day earlier by the Durres Court appears to be causing a diplomatic clash between Ankara and official Tirana.

Today, it has reacted through a statement to the Turkish embassy in Tirana, which says it is very disappointed by the two rulings, according to her scandalous statement, of the Durres Court.

The Turkish Embassy names the case a very bad example of the fight against terrorism, while arguing that citizen Muhammet Yasir Aydoğmuş should stay in prison and then be extradited to Turkey. The embassy also adds that Turkish citizens also pose a threat to Albania's national security, as it is a person accused of terrorism. The judges who made the decision to release Turkish citizens are Eda Kaya and Petraq Curri.

He is also known to the public as the judge who released Italy's drug boss, Alket Hatija. As Lapas.al reported the day before, for the release of Turkish citizens from the Durres Court had also intervened through a letter sent with emergency from Monica Macoev. It demanded the release of Muhammet Yasir Aydoğmuş with the argument that his life in Turkey was endangered.

Below is the Turkish Embassy's full statement in Tirana.

First, on October 8th on Sunday, Muhammet Yasir Aydoğmuş and his family were arrested because of the use of counterfeit Turkish passports in Durres. They tried to pass Italy using forged travel documents, which is a crime punishable by up to 5 years in prison under Article 189 of Albanian criminal law. However, on October 11, 2017, the Durres Court decided to release the Muhammad Yasir Aydoğmuş in exchange for a very funny sum of money. These passports were obviously transnational organised crime products. So the first decision showed that the use of counterfeit passports produced by organised criminal networks has no sanctions in practice, and foreigners using false passports are free and welcome to Albania.

Second, it is important that Muhammet Yasir Aydoğmuş is accused of being a member of an armed terrorist organisation in Turkey, FET finished, respectively. All Albanian public witness to what happened in Turkey on July 15, 2016. This armed organisation killed 250 Turkish citizens and injured thousands. There is a Turkish judge's arrest warrant against him. So, based on the European Convention on Extrading, we asked Albanian authorities to arrest that auditor for 40 days. We've offered all necessary documents.

However, again, another judge in Durres denied our request for extradition with a scandalous decision yesterday (October 13th). We believe this is contrary to the Convention in question, where Albania and Turkey are part of it and which is also part of our bilateral judicial co-operation.

And it is also a very bad example for the fight against terrorism.

Terrorism suspect Muhammet Yasir Aydoğmuş and his lawyer tried to politicise the case, and the Durres judge fell easily into this trap. Now a terrorist suspect, using counterfeit passports he has received from organised criminals, is free in Albania. We believe this situation is also against Albania's national security. If suspected of terrorism, using forged passports being granted freedom to travel to Albanian territories, that means it threatens the security of Albania and Albanians. It paves the way for more terrorism suspects and encourages terrorism suspects to act and co-operate with criminal networks.