Danish PM: Turkey Must Face Repercussions Over Suspect's Release

A crisis with Denmark over the release of Danish suspect Basil Hassan has deepened, as Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt has said Turkey must face some kind of repercussions for its actions, according to the Turkish press.

Basil Hassan, a Danish citizen of Lebanese origin, who stands accused of attempting to assassinate author Lars Hedegaard, an outspoken critic of Islam -- was taken into custody on April 24 at Atatürk Airport by Turkish authorities, who were alerted by Danish intelligence, but was later released by Turkish courts.

When asked earlier this week if the Danish government was going to pursue the matter in the upcoming European Union (EU) conference, Thorning-Schmidt said: “Turkey is not the topic of EU meetings being held these days. Turkey must face some kind of repercussion for releasing [Hassan], but taking the issue to the EU now would be out of place.”

She went on to say, "We can only bring the issue forward when Turkey's membership comes up. Then we can say Turkey is proceeding in the wrong direction. We've always said that Turkey should be a full member of the EU. But of course when we say this we are talking of a different Turkey, not today's Turkey. Turkey governs itself by its own laws. If a country requests the extradition of a criminal, that person must be [extradited]. Turkey hasn't done this.”

This came after Danish Foreign Minister Martin Lidegaard said the matter could be taken to the EU in his statement after a meeting of the Danish parliament's Foreign Affairs Commission in which recent developments concerning Turkey were discussed.

The Danish foreign minister went on to say, “Our position is that Turkey will only become a member when it is ready: when they live up to the standards of a rule-of-law society.”

Mette Gjerskov, leader of the Social Democrats Party, said: "Danish soldiers serving in NATO in Turkey should be withdrawn immediately and European Union relations with Turkey should be suspended,” the worldbulletin.net news portal reported on Friday.

The commission also included Danish Justice Minister Mette Frederiksen, among other top-level government officials.

Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Tanju Bilgiç said in a written statement on Wednesday that a court had earlier approved the extradition of Hassan but later released him pending trial after his lawyer filed an appeal.

A delegation of Danish officials visited Ankara on Oct. 17 to meet with the National Intelligence Organization (MİT), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Justice regarding the status of the suspect. Following the visit, Frederiksen said Turkish authorities had refrained from providing answers on the matter and that Denmark was still waiting for an explanation as to why the suspect was released while in custody in Turkey.

There has been speculation among some lawmakers and the Danish media that the man was part of a hostage swap for 46 Turks that had been held in Syria by Islamic State in Iraq and Levant (ISIL) militants.
In a report from the Cihan news agency, the Turkish opposition argued: "If Turkey used the suspect in the swap with ISIL, this is more important than an individual deportation as it means that Turkey has betrayed the international community in the fight against ISIL.”

The Turkish hostages, seized during an ISIL raid in June, were set free on Sept. 20.

The developments come on the heels of the release of 10 men charged with raising funds for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) by a Danish court.

The Copenhagen City Court said on Wednesday that prosecutors had not proven that an estimated 130 million kroner ($22 million) transferred to Kurdish organizations was actually channeled to the PKK, according to an Associated Press report.

The PKK is classified as a terrorist organization by the United States, Turkey and the European Union.

(Cihan/Today's Zaman)