Azerbaijan, Baku, 27 September / Trend corr. S.Kazimli / Nine Turkish citizens, who serve punishment in Azerbaijan, applied to be extradited to Turkey, Mehmet Ali Shahin, the Turkish Justice Minister, who is in a visit to Azerbaijan, told Trend on 27 September.
Measures are being taken to extradite these prisoners and the prisoners, who meet necessary requirements, will be extradited to Turkey, the Turkish Minister said.
A total of 28 Turkish citizens are serving their punishment at prisons in Azerbaijan and two of them are women, the Minister said.
Sahin said that he did not have data on number of the Azerbaijani citizens, who are at prison in Turkey. In accordance with agreement reached between both countries, extradition of prisoners are being realized and there is not any problem on this matter, he said.
The Turkish Minister said that Turkish specialists would join construction of new prisons in Azerbaijan. Employees of the Turkish and Azerbaijani relevant bodies will hold exchange of opinion to study and apply the Turkish experience in this field, the Minister said. Shahin also expressed his assurance that prisons meeting with the European standards would be constructed in Azerbaijan.
"Prisons are built in cell form in Turkey. Cells contain one, two and eight people at most. We will send our specialists to Azerbaijan and yours to Turkey to assist in construction of new prisons in Azerbaijan," the Minister stressed.
The Turkish Justice Ministry's visit to Azerbaijan, which began on 25 September, will last by 27 September.
The Azerbaijani and Turkish Justice Ministers signed a cooperation protocol in 2001 and a contract on "Legal aid on civil, family and crime affairs" in 2002.
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