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Chechnya's leader urges Erdogan to extradite Chechen terrorists hiding in Turkey

The Chechen leader said he had numerously asked the Turkish leadership about the extradition of terrorists, giving their names and pointing to Movladi Udugov as their ideological mentor

GROZNY, July 5. /TASS/. Acting Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has called on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to extradite terrorists who have fled Chechnya and are hiding in Turkey.

The Chechen leader also said that if Akhmet Chatayev was complicit in the recent terror attack in Istanbul airport, responsibility for his actions should be borne by the special services of the West, Georgia and other countries.

"I’m glad that the relations between Turkey and Russia are returning to the normal course. I’m requesting Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan once again to make a decision on the extradition of terrorists," Kadyrov wrote on his Instagram page.

The Chechen leader said he had numerously asked the Turkish leadership about the extradition of terrorists, giving their names and pointing to Movladi Udugov as their ideological mentor.

"I personally warned then-Interior Minister Besir Atalay in Ankara about a threat coming from them. I was assured that a decision on the extradition would be made but no actions followed," Kadyrov said.

Commenting on the complicity of Chatayev in the terror attack in Istanbul airport, Kadyrov said this person had left Russia as a "rank-and-file bandit." "He was brought up and made a terrorist in Austria, Georgia and Turkey," Kadyrov said.

"In their attempts to harm Russia, Western, Georgian and other special services brought up Chatayev and, if he is complicit in the Istanbul events, they should bear responsibility for this and should not look towards Chechnya," Kadyrov said.

As the Chechen leader said, in 2011 Chatayev organized an attempt for militants recruited in Austria to break through into Chechnya from Georgia. He was detained and released on instruction from Georgian top officials and he has been in Turkey and Syria since 2013. "The Turkish security services could not but know what he was doing," the Chechen leader wrote on his Instagram page.

According to Western media, including The Wall Street Journal, Chatayev who is also known under the nickname of one-handed Akhmed, started recruiting militants in 2015 for the Islamic State terrorist organization (outlawed in Russia).

Chairman of the Committee on National Security in the US House of Representatives Michael McCall said in an interview with CNN that according to information available to the US side, Chatayev had been the organizer of the terrorist attack in Istanbul airport.

The suicide bomber attack in Istanbul airport on June 28 claimed the lives of 43 people, including 19 foreigners. About 240 persons were wounded.