Dacic Pledge to Turkey Worries Serbian Rights Advocates

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic's pledge that Belgrade will "not shelter anyone who fights against Turkish interests" has alarmed rights lawyers in Serbia, who warn that extraditions could violate Serbian laws and international obligations.

A lawyer for the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights, Nikola Kovacevic, said Dacic's statement was also a cause for concern because decisions on extraditions do not fall under the jurisdiction of the Foreign Ministry.

"This statement suggests that the outcome of [extradition] procedures would not be according to the constitution, Serbian laws and international contracts, but would probably be solved on a political level," Kovacevic told BIRN.

Kovacevic said the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights has no knowledge of pending extradition requests from Istanbul, but expressed concern for the future.

Dacic was in Turkey attending the opening of a Serbian consulate in the city of Antalya on Sunday when he made the statement about "not giving shelter to anyone" who endangered Turkey's interests, Serbian media reported.

The statement worried human rights activists in part because Belgrade controversially extradited a Kurdish activist who sought asylum in Serbia in December 2017.

Activist and victim of torture Cevdet Ayaz had been sentenced to 15 years in jail in Turkey for acts against the country's constitutional order.

The decision to extradite him was made despite the UN Committee Against Torture, UNCAT, saying he should not be forcibly removed until it had finished considering his case.

Human rights campaigners pledged to file a complaint against Serbia to UNCAT because of the extradition.

Another human rights lawyer, Danilo Curcic, said the extradition of Ayaz showed that the...