Turkey
Turkish president and leader of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Recep Tayyip Erdogan attends his party’s parliamentary group meeting at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, Ankara, November 19, 2019. Photo: Adem Altan / AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Turkey arrested a lawyer working on asylum cases for the German embassy in Ankara, the German foreign ministry confirmed on Wednesday.
The lawyer was assisting the German embassy in Ankara with research into Turkish citizens applying for asylum in Germany before he was arrested by Turkish police back in mid-September, according to a Wednesday report from German news magazine Der Spiegel.
He is accused of espionage.
Germany is engaged in intensive work to clear the lawyer of all charges and get him released, a German diplomat told AFP.
However, since the lawyer is a Turkish citizen, Germany can only provide limited assistance to free the accused.
The diplomatic source told AFP that German officials fear that “sensitive data and entire files” of up to 50 Turkish asylum seekers may have fallen into the hands of the Turkish intelligence service.
Many of the files are believed to belong to Kurdish activists and followers of the Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is accused of orchestrating the 2016 failed coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The Turkish government is repeatedly cracking down on government critics and conducting mass arrests against opposition leaders.
In a statement published earlier this year, Human Rights Watch (HRW) condemned the Turkish government’s persecution of its critics, which intensified in the wake of the failed 2016 coup.
At least 180 media outlets were closed down during the state of emergency which followed, leaving more than 2,500 journalists jobless, further limiting press freedoms across the country.
Labelled as the “world’s largest prison for journalists”, Turkey is home to an “increased and sustained attack” on freedom of expression, the monitor said in a report last year. This also extends to Kurdish politicians, many of whom have been detained and dismissed from their posts for voicing opposition to the Turkish offensive in northern Syria.
On November 4, the Turkish court released Ahmed Altan and Muhammed Altan. Both journalists were convicted for having links to Fethullah Gulen movement (FETO).
However, Ahmed Altan, was rearrested by the Turkish police on November 12 after an official order issued by Istanbul 27th High Criminal Court.
Kurdish journalists in Turkey documenting abuses and mass displacement since Operation Peace Spring began on October 9 have had their homes raided and their Twitter accounts suspended.
Turkey began the operation on October 9, in which the Turkish armed forces and their Syrian militia proxies started a wide offensive against the Kurdish areas in Northeast Syria to push back the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) from the Turkish –Syrian border.
Turkish authorities also have arrested 15 democratically-elected mayors from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) since March, who were removed from their positions due to alleged links to Kurdish rebels in Turkey.
The HDP has been subject to repressive measures from the Turkish government, including party member arrests, since its establishment in 2012.
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