Turkey has asked the United Arab Emirates to extradite a convicted crime boss who fled prosecution and accused the allies of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of serious misdemeanors, state news agency reported on Wednesday.
The justice ministry has asked the UAE to “temporarily arrest Sedat Peker for his eventual extradition to Turkey,” the Anadolu news agency reported.
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Peker’s accusations against Erdogan’s allies – including a former prime minister, top officials and their relatives – ranged from corruption to drug trafficking.
In June, an Istanbul prosecutor’s office said it launched an investigation into the murder of a Turkish Cypriot journalist 25 years ago, after Peker said the killing was ordered by a former Turkish minister.
Peker, 49, rose to prominence in the 1990s as a gangland figure and was sentenced to 14 years in prison in 2007 for crimes including forming and leading a criminal gang.
He has said in June that he is in Dubai, although Reuters was not been able to verify his whereabouts.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, one of the people Peker has targeted so far, have strongly rejected the accusations.
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