Rıza Altun, a founding member and chief financial operator of the outlawed terrorist organization, fled from France where he was indicted in February for suspected terrorist activities and barred from leaving the area around Paris. Austrian police arrested Altun but allowed him to leave the country with fake documents last month although he was wanted by Interpol.

  After escaping to northern Iraq, Turkey officially asked Iraq to arrest Altun and extradite him. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan took up the issue with his Iraqi counterpart Nouri al-Maliki during his two-day visit to Ankara this week. Turkey and Iraq have an agreement on judicial cooperation. But Iraq has not responded to Turkey's earlier calls for extraditing the PKK officials. Turkey is now waiting for Iraq to sign an agreement on terrorism.