A man suspected of membership in the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and wanted by Germany was arrested on the island of Mallorca in eastern Spain, Deutsche Welle Turkish service reported, citing a press release by the Spanish police.
The police on Monday said the Turkey-born suspect, for whom German authorities had issued a European arrest warrant (EAW), was arrested last week and has been behind bars since then.
The suspect is alleged to have played a significant leadership role in the PKK and is accused of coordinating the organization’s activities in Germany and raising funds to finance the PKK’s violent activities in Turkey and surrounding areas.
A Spanish court will reportedly decide whether to extradite the suspect to Germany.
The PKK, which is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies, took up arms in 1984 for the creation of an independent state in predominantly Kurdish southeastern Turkey, but it later scaled back its demands to greater Kurdish autonomy.
The conflict between the PKK and the Turkish state has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the outlawed group, was captured by Turkish security forces in Nairobi in 1999 and has been jailed on İmralı Island in the Sea of Marmara since then.