Russia Says Turkish Militant Captured In Daghestan

(RFE/RL) 10 January 2006 -- Russian security officials say they have captured a Turkish-born militant in the Northern Caucasus republic of Daghestan.

Officials from the Russian Interior Ministry and Federal Security Services are reportedly saying the man -- identified as Ali Soytekinoglu, a native of Karasu, a town on Turkey's Black Sea coast -- was arrested on 29 December during a security operation.

Soytekinoglu allegedly confessed to receiving military training in Georgia's Pankisi Gorge in 2001, before moving to neighboring Chechnya and taking part in anti-Russian military operations there.

Russia claims many Turkish citizens are fighting in Chechnya.

The Russian television station Channel One broadcast on 10 January a police video purported to show Soytekinoglu urging in broken Russian fellow Turks to lay down their weapons and return home.

(Channel One/ITAR-TASS/Interfax-AVN/RIA Novosti)