Croatian police arrest Turkish terror suspect

By Talha Ozturk

BELGRADE, Serbia (AA) - Croatian police have arrested a suspected member of a far-left Turkish terror group, local media said Thursday.

The Slobodna Dalmacija newspaper identified the suspect as Murat Catulay, 52, an alleged member of the Liberation Army of the Workers and Peasants of Turkey, known by the Turkish abbreviation TIKKO.

He was arrested on Wednesday in the coastal town of Omis, around 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Split, on an Interpol arrest warrant for terrorist acts allegedly carried out in Turkey between 1989 and 2001, the newspaper said.

Catulay reportedly arrived in Croatia on Saturday from Germany with his wife and three children for a vacation. Special police units carried out a raid at his rented villa. No weapons were recovered and Catulay was taken to court in Split, where he was released on bail, the newspaper said.

When contacted by Anadolu Agency, neither local police nor the Turkish embassy in Zagreb were able to confirm the arrest.

TIKKO is the armed wing of the Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist-Leninist, which is listed as a terror organization in Turkey.