Salih Muslim, a globally known Syrian Kurdish leader, was detained in the Czech capital city of Prague on Feb. 24 at Turkey’s request. Ankara is now demanding that he be extradited to Turkey where he faces terror charges over his alleged links to a March 2016 car bomb attack in Ankara that left 37 people dead. It remains unclear what evidence if any Turkey has to prove Muslim’s complicity. The move is a further sign of how Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party has abandoned efforts to make peace with its Kurds. It has reverted instead to its old, and so far unsuccessful, tactics of seeking to vanquish them militarily in Turkey and now in Syria while criminalizing their political leaders.

Between 2012 and 2015, Muslim was Ankara’s top interlocutor within the Syrian Kurdish movement, which was inspired by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan. 

A chemical engineer by training who studied at Istanbul Technical University, Muslim was until recently the co-chair of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and is not known to have been engaged in any armed activities. Muslim is a familiar face in European capitals where he is hosted by senior officials, including Washington’s previous Syria envoy, Michael Ratney. In February 2015, Muslim oversaw a critical operation carried out jointly between the Turkish military and the PYD’s armed wing known as the People’s Protection Units to transfer the remains of Suleyman Shah, the grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Empire, from a shrine in northern Syria to a village near the Turkish border. Al-Monitor spoke to Muslim at length over Skype on Feb. 22 — just two days before he was detained — about his relations with Turkey. Muslim is expected to appear in court Feb. 27.

The following is a transcript of the interview that was conducted in the Turkish language, with slight edits for length and clarity.