New and disturbing circumstances and an Interpol alert contributed led to the detention  and extradition of Turkish national and supposed G?lenist Abdullah B?y?k to Turkey, Bulgaria's Interior Ministry has explained.

An official with the ministry has not elaborated on what data was collected.

B?y?k, who was denied political asylum in Bulgaria on July 29, was arrested in Sofia after a routine police check on August 10, while the document providing for him to be forcibly taken out of the country was issued a day earlier, daily 24 Chasa quotes the Interior Ministry's Deputy Chief Secretary Georgi Arabadzhiev at a press briefing.

B?y?k can appeal the decision, the official has made clear.

The move to hand over B?y?k to Turkey has sparked controversy among the public. Ankara announced at the end of June it would seek the man's extradition from Bulgaria in relation to the failed coup attempt. Authorities had declined to grant a previous request for his extradition in March of this year.

On Wednesday, however, B?y?k was escorted to the southeastern border of Bulgaria and passed on to Turkish border police, with the Interior Ministry citing an expired residence permit as a reason.

Interior Minister Rumyana Bachvarova on Thursday said he had been residing on invalid documents and had stayed on after his political asylum request with the Bulgarian presidency had been turned down.

Reiterating her words, the ministry's Deputy Chief Secretary has categorically denied there could be any deal between Bulgaria and Turkey on an extradition of B?y?k in return for Ankara's cooperation in detaining a Turkish national sought by Bulgaria through a European Arrest Warrant.