ANKARA, Jan 10 (A.A) - Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk received on Thursday Indian Minister of State for External affairs Omar Abdullah.
Speaking to reporters following the meeting, Turk said that there were close economic and cultural relations between Turkey and India but those relations were not at the desired level.
Noting that both Turkey and India wanted to improve bilateral relations, Turk said that there were legal agreements between Turkey and India on several matters and those agreements included sufficient articles, adding that the two countries had also signed an agreement on extradition of criminals.
Recalling that both Turkey and India had suffered much from terrorism, Turk said that Turkey harshly condemned the recent attacks against India, and stressed the importance of close international cooperation in fight against terrorism.
Turk said that they were in favor of use of peaceful methods for solution of India's problems with its neighboring countries and that Turkey believed those problems could be solved through dialogue and political means.
Turk said that he had been invited to India and that he would be pleased to pay a visit to India in near future, adding that development of bilateral relations was beneficial to both sides.
Turk later answered questions of reporters.
When asked about the developments after the request for extradition of Movladi Udugov, a Chechen leader, from Turkey, Turk said that the Russian Federation had recently told Turkish officials that judicial authorities of Dagestan wanted this Russian-origin person with red bulletin.
Turk said that later the Justice Ministry had told the Interior and Foreign ministries that the matter would be assessed after transfer of other information about this person to Turkey.
Recalling that Turkey and Russia had signed the European Convention on extradition of criminals, Turk said that in accordance with this convention, information on this person's acts and penal code rules for those acts should also be conveyed to Turkey. ''When this information is sent, we assess the matter.''
When asked to comment on the Constitutional Court decision about Justice and Development Party (AK) leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turk said ''We prepared a bill to change Article 312 of the Turkish Civil Code (TCK) which forms the basis of the Constitutional Court decision about Erdogan. The bill has been recently presented to the Prime Ministry. The bill proposes to expand the freedom of expression defined in Article 312. Under the current law, a person who is convicted of Article 312 of the TCK cannot become a member to a political party nor he can be elected as a parliamentarian.
''The Constitutional Court made a decision according to the current law. The bill which we presented to the Prime Ministry doesn't only concern Article 312 but it has also other articles. If the bill passes, it will be an important step towards expanding basic rights and freedoms.''
When asked if Erdogan could be elected as a deputy if the bill is passed, Turk said ''I don't want to make a comment on that. I think a discussion will start on that issue when the bill is passed.''