RHEIN-SIEG, Germany — Musa Ataman is the head of the Kurdish Association in Rhein-Sieg, west of Germany. He left Turkey for Germany in 1976, working for civil associations - particularly associations for Kurdish rights - ever since. He flew back to Turkey to visit family in August 2018, but was detained at Izmir airport upon arrival. After three hours of investigation at the airport, he was given a paper which showed that his name was among a list of people who posed a threat to Turkey, and was sent back to Germany. He believes the reason he was banned rom entering Turkey was because of his NGO work in Germany. “What we do here is for Kurds and their interests. I guess this is one of the reasons behind my return [to Germany by Turkish authorities] because some people in Turkey may not like what we do,” he told Rudaw. Ayse Celik is a lawyer based in Ankara. She said that people in Germany are targeted by Turkish government for their social media posts and civil activities. “One of the reasons is these people’s posts on social media. There are many similar cases in Turkey as well. The second reason is their activities for civil institutions in Germany. Also, if they attend civil institutions’ statements, attend conferences when studying at universities, or deliver a speech at a conference, cases will be opened against them,” she said. In response to a question from Rudaw, the German foreign ministry said that “there are 62 German nationals in Turkish prisons. Additionally, there are 65 identified cases of Germans who cannot leave Turkey for now because of travel restrictions.” Germany's foreign ministry says that those held in Turkish jails or banned from leaving Turkey hold dual German-Turkish citizenship. After speaking to the relatives of five detainees, as well as several civil society organisations and NGOs working on Kurdish issues in Germany, Rudaw has concluded that at least 50 percent are of Kurdish origin. Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Berlin in September 2018, where he met with German counterpart Angela Merkel. The arrest of German nationals in Turkey was high on the agenda. “I can't intervene in the German judicial system, and you don't have the right to criticize the Turkish judicial system, because courts are independent and only their rulings should be respected. Decisions have been made regarding the German nationals to be freed, but the process is ongoing," Erdogan said at the time.
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