35 Turkish diplomats seek German asylum

October 25, 2016 By administrator

Reuters,

The German Interior Ministry says 35 Turkish citizens with diplomatic passports have applied for asylum after a failed military coup in Turkey in July that was followed by a crackdown on suspected supporters of the putsch.

Interior Ministry spokesman Johannes Dimroth told a regular government news conference the figure included Turkish diplomats as well as their family members, but did not say if they had all been based in Germany.

He said he could not give any more details on the diplomats and their motivation to apply for asylum in Germany.

At the Turkish embassy in Berlin, nobody was immediately available to comment

It was not clear if the Turkish government has requested the extradition of the diplomats by German authorities.

In Turkey, more than 32,000 people were put in jail and 100,000 have been dismissed from jobs in the security and civil services for their alleged links to a religious network the government says staged the July 15 military coup.

The scale of the purges has drawn criticism from opposition politicians and Western allies that President Tayyip Erdogan may be using the coup to consolidate power.

Accused mastermind, US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, denies involvement in the unsuccessful coup that killed 240 people who resisted it and around 100 rogue troops.

Originally published as 35 Turkish diplomats seek German asylum

Turkish diplomat jumping the ship: German press: 3 Turkish diplomats apply for asylum in Germany

October 8, 2016 By administrator

turkish-deplomat Three Turkish diplomats and a military attaché have applied for asylum in Germany, German media reported on Friday.

A joint report by the Süddeutsche daily, West German Broadcasting Cologne (WDR) and Northern German Broadcasting (NDR) said the passports of eight Turkish diplomats in Germany were revoked over alleged ties to a social movement led by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen. The report said three of the eight diplomats have applied for asylum in Germany.

Based on sources from the German Foreign Ministry, the report also mentioned Col. Ayhan Dağlı, Turkey’s military attaché in Berlin, saying that the officer whose whereabouts in Germany are unknown also applied for asylum. His posting to Berlin was approaching an end, and he was expected to return to Turkey.

The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) has yet to make a decision on the asylum applications, but German authorities fear the outbreak of another diplomatic dispute with Turkey as the two countries recently repaired ties. Turkey returned its ambassador to Germany, Hüseyin Avni Karslıoğlu, to Berlin on Friday after a four-month absence from the embassy.

The rest of the German-based diplomats have returned to Turkey, the report said, but added that number of asylum applications may increase.

Source: http://www.dw.com/en/several-turkish-diplomats-apply-for-asylum-in-germany-media/a-35994036

Turkish admiral ‘claims asylum in US’ after failed coup

August 10, 2016 By administrator

A high-ranking Turkish military officer has reportedly claimed asylum in the United States after authorities in Turkey linked him to the failed coup, the BBC reports.

Mustafa Ugurlu had been on a posting to a Nato base in Virginia at the time of the 15 July botched coup.

Turkey has purged its military ranks of some 100 generals accused of being part of a shadowy movement that follows a US-based Turkish preacher.

Rear Adm Ugurlu disappeared on 22 July, a week after the coup.

US officials told Reuters news agency that an unnamed rear admiral was seeking asylum, and he was later named by Anadolu Agency as Mustafa Ugurlu.

It comes at a difficult moment in relations between the two Nato allies as Turkey is seeking the extradition from the US of the cleric accused of masterminding the coup, Fethullah Gulen. He denies involvement.

Two US officials told Reuters the rear admiral had been working at Nato’s Allied Command Transformation headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia, where 26 Turkish military are posted.

In April he took part in a Nato conference in Poland and was identified as the Western military alliance’s Assistant Chief of Staff for Command and Control, Deployability and Sustainability based in Norfolk.

A Turkish embassy official in Washington told Reuters that the rear admiral had failed to report for duty after a detention order was issued. “He left his badges and his ID at the base and after that no one has heard anything from him,” the official said.

Rear Adm Ugurlu was named by prosecutors in the western Turkish city of Izmir, according to Anadolu, as part of a military espionage case involving the leaking of information.

Some 18,000 people have been placed in detention in response to the failed coup, including many from the military. The government said on Monday that more than 200 soldiers suspected of involvement in the coup, including nine generals, were still at large.

Many more have lost their jobs or been suspended across Turkey’s public services, on suspicion of being Gulen followers.

Iraqi Christians denied asylum in US, facing looming expulsion

October 1, 2015 By administrator

The Chaldeans being held at Otay have numerous supporters in El Cajon and throughout San Diego County. (Courtesy: East County Magazine/Miriam Raftery)

By Hollie McKay

Nearly two dozen Iraqi Christians who fled ISIS and crossed into the U.S. from Mexico seeking religious asylum have been denied protection and could be booted from American soil within days, a federal official said.

Some 27 Iraqi Christians, known as Chaldeans, were held at the Otay Detention Center in San Diego since entering the U.S. in April and May. Seven have already been extradited, and five more criminally charged with making false statements. In all, 22 have been ordered out of the U.S. and five still have asylum applications pending, according to Lauren Mack, spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in San Diego.

“This is extremely disturbing and wrong,” Jim Jacobson, president of Christian Freedom International, told FoxNews.com. “I’ve never seen anything like this and I’ve been doing this work for more than 20 years. Western governments should allow persecuted minority Christians asylum within their borders. This should be a priority over other asylum seekers.”

“This is extremely disturbing and wrong.”

– Jim Jacobson, president of Christian Freedom International

Jacobson and other critics say the Obama administration has turned its back on Christians in the Middle East, whose numbers have dwindled in the face of ISIS, which forces Christians to convert, pay a special tax or face execution in the territory it controls within Iraq and Syria. A Gatestone Institute report notes that since the start of this year, more than 4,200 Muslims have been admitted into the U.S. from Iraq, but only 727 Christians – making it a ratio of around 5 to 1 – despite the fact that Christians are a heavily targeted “infidel” minority.

Mack insisted that the Iraqi nationals in question have not and will not be sent back to their war-torn home country, but instead “repatriated” to “agreed upon” countries like Germany and Sweden.

San Diego is home to the largest population of Chaldeans in the U.S., and several of the 27 held at Otay have family members willing to take them in.

“Until this decision, having a family sponsor has always been a huge positive factor in adjudicating asylum cases,” said Jacobson. “Christians are facing unspeakable torture and atrocities at the hands of ISIS.”

Yet Mack said that there are legal immigration protocols that need to be followed for family sponsorships, which, in this case, were not adhered to by the Chaldeans. Under international law, asylum is only granted in specific emergency situations in which an individual or group requires protection from persecution. A select few of the criminal complaints against the Chaldeans, provided to FoxNews.com by ICE, contain statements and allegations that at least some of them – although born in Iraq – held German passports and had been living there for a number of years. In interviews with officials, some applicants allegedly admitted that their claims of family threats were “fabricated” to assist with their applications. Details regarding the remaining Chaldeans could not be discussed due to the confidentiality of their applicants.

American Center for Democracy CEO Rachel Ehrenfeld pointed out that all refugees – regardless of religion – should be heavily scrutinized by officials before being granted entry into the U.S.

“I’m not surprised by ICE ruling, especially since it seems several, if not all, lied on their asylum application,” she said.

But Jacobson said the process may “make it impossible for any Christian man, woman or child facing persecution because of their faith” to gain entry and holds grave fears for the religious minority. No one disputes that the Chaldeans are originally from Iraq, and given that they can’t return to their homeland, Jacobson wonders why they can’t live with family in the U.S.

Iraq’s Christian population is one of the most ancient in the world, but is teetering on extinction amid Islamic extremism and government corruption – dwindling from around 1.5 million in 2003 to well below 200,000 now. Under the reign of ISIS, Christians in the region have been brutally persecuted and intentionally crucified, with their own churches reportedly used as torture chambers in which they are given the grim option of converting to Islam or being slaughtered.

“I feel like my world has been turned back to 100 years ago,” one Christian farmer who fled Mosul, Iraq, during the ISIS takeover told FoxNews.com. “That day was like Armageddon. ISIS is killing us slowly.”

The militant group has also destroyed countless time-honored Christian monasteries and holy sites in a twisted attempt to eradicate the faith. In Defense of Christians, a persecution watchdog group, earlier this month lobbied on Capitol Hill for lawmakers to pass a resolution characterizing ISIS’s targeting of the Christian minority as “genocide.”

Source: FOXNEWS