A Tirana court ruled on Friday that Turkish activist Jülide Yazıcı shall remain in custody pending consideration of Turkiye’s request for her extradition.
Yazıcı, 32, is wanted by the Turkish authorities to serve the remainder of a prison sentence for assisting a terrorist organisation.
She was arrested at Tirana International Airport on 4 August after arriving from France. Albanian border police found that she was the subject of an international wanted notice issued by Interpol Ankara.
According to the Turkish authorities, the Istanbul Serious Crimes Court sentenced Yazıcı to four years and two months in prison for assisting a terrorist organisation. She has three and half years left to serve.
However, Yazıcı has held refugee status in France since November 2020.
France’s National Court of Asylum found that she would face a risk of persecution because of her political activism if returned to Türkiye.
According to BIRN, Yazıcı participated in the 2013 Gezi Park protests against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government and supported the Peoples’ Democratic Party, a left-wing pro-Kurdish political party.
She was arrested in Türkiye in January 2016 while studying philosophy at Boğaziçi University.
She was initially charged with membership of an armed organisation, but the charge was later changed to knowingly assisting a terrorist organisation.
Albanian courts are expected to consider Türkiye’s extradition request in the coming weeks.
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