PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) 鈥 A lawyer representing the family of a man from Kosovo who was arrested in Turkey for allegedly transferring money to Mossad operatives there insisted on Wednesday that the suspect is innocent and offered the family's cooperation in the investigation.
The suspect, identified as Liridon Rexhepi, entered Turkey on Aug. 25, and was detained last Friday and formally arrested on Tuesday, the Anadolu Agency said. The report said he had confessed during interrogation that he conducted the money transfers.
Since January, on charges of collecting data on , for the Israeli intelligence.
Israel has not commented on the arrests in Turkey.
In the Kosovar capital of Pristina, lawyer Arianit Koci said Rexhepi's family is 鈥渟hocked by this arrest鈥 and convinced that he has "nothing to do with these charges.鈥
鈥淏oth the family and Liridon are ready to fully cooperate with authorities鈥 he told The Associated Press, adding that 鈥渄ue to the sensitivity of the case, for the moment there is no information that I can share with the public.鈥
鈥淲e are convinced that our brother is innocent because we have never been involved in the above-mentioned claims, neither we as a family nor Liridon,鈥 Koci wrote on Facebook.
Since the start of the , Turkish President has been one of the strongest critics of Israel鈥檚 military actions in the war-torn coastal enclave and has praised Palestinian Hamas militants as a liberation group.
In May, Turkey and has also applied to against Israel at an international court.
___
Semini reported from Tirana, Albania. Follow Llazar Semini at