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Report: Berlin looks into pulling jets out of Turkey

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Germany-iclickGermany must find alternatives to the Incirlik Air Base and pull its soldiers and weapons from Turkey, German MP Rainer Arnold told Der Spiegel magazine. Ankara has been blocking official visits from Berlin to the base.

The Bundeswehr was considering moving its Tornado reconnaissance jets to Cyprus or Jordan, Der Spiegel reported on Thursday.

Turkey currently hosts six of the warplanes and some 240 German soldiers at Incirlik Air Base near Ankara. The jets are presently involved in the aerial campaign against the “Islamic State.”

At the same time, the two countries are engaged in a diplomatic row that saw Ankara repeatedly block German officials from visiting the troops.

The mission is set to expire in December.

“If we are not allowed to visit our soldiers, the continuation of the mandate is impossible,” said Reiner Arnold, defense spokesman for the SPD.

The SPD is a junior partner of Angela Merkel’s CDU within the ruling coalition, but their votes are necessary for prolonging the mandate in the German parliament.

No-fly zone

The diplomatic clashes first started in June, when the German parliament passed a resolution branding the mass killing of Armenians in 1915 as “genocide.” Ankara then blocked a visit to the base by the undersecretary for defense, Ralf Brauksiepe.

After that, German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen managed to travel to Incirlik. However, a delegation of journalists and a separate group of parliamentarians were later forbidden from flying to the NATO base.

Ankara has refused to budge despite strong diplomatic pressure from Berlin.

“The German government must immediately find other bases for the German soldiers,” defense spokesman Arnold told Der Spiegel.

Worst-case scenario

Pulling out of Turkey would be a “nightmare” for the German army, according to the article.

The move would stop the sorties against “IS” for at least two months, raise the cost and present new logistic challenges, unnamed military sources told Der Spiegel. Also, the German contingent would be separated from the US troops, who are in charge of leading the mission.

Moreover, the dispute could jeopardize a future German mission in Turkey involving AWACS jets set to monitor airspace above “IS” territory.

Rumors of moving nukes

The German Defense Ministry did not officially confirm it was preparing to move the Tornados and tanker jets from Turkey.

“We would like to continue our mission from Turkey, but the Incirlik base is not the only option,” the magazine quoted a ministry spokesman as saying.

Earlier this month, media reports suggested that the US was moving its nuclear warheads from Incirlik to Romania due to instability in Turkey and rising tensions between Ankara and its western allies. Romania denied the move.

dj/xx (Reuters, AFP)

German media has reported on a network of over 6,000 Turkish informants spying for the Turkish government

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spaying on germanyGerman media has reported on a network of over 6,000 informants spying for the Turkish government within Germany’s Turkish community. Asked for comment, German lawmaker Hans-Christian Strobele told Sputnik that the situation was outrageous, adding that criminal charges must be leveled against anyone spying on Germany or its Turkish community.

On Sunday, Die Welt reported, citing unnamed sources, that over 6,000 people inside Germany’s three million Turkish community are working as informants for Turkey’s national intelligence service, the MIT. The story sparked outraged inside the country, with media and some politicians calling for an investigation. A Bundestag commission has already begun its own checks.

Speaking to Sputnik Germany, Hans-Christian Strobele, a lawmaker for the country’s Green Party, emphasized that if the allegations turn out to be true, the offenders must be punished in accordance with German law.

“There must be consequences, because what we’re talking about is a criminal offense in Germany. We are talking about the activity of secret agents, and perhaps even more than that; it’s possible that specific persons of Turkish origin inside Germany may be threatened.”

According to the the German media, among other things, the MIT’s spy ring is suspected of monitoring the Turkish community inside Germany. This is dangerous, according to Strobele, because it means that the informers can collect information on any Turks who might express opinions which are critical of the Turkish government.

Asked to comment on suspicions held by some Germans that Turkish intelligence services have been explicitly tolerated in Germany for many years, the lawmaker suggested that that’s unlikely to be the case.  “If someone claims that this is the case, they have to explain what kind of activities they’re talking about. If it’s about activity in the framework of fighting international terrorism, which Germany too is engaged in, that would be legitimate. But Turkish intelligence cannot work in Germany independently. That would be contrary to Germany’s interests, and is therefore is subject to prosecution.”

Recently, Turkish officials have reportedly asked the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) to try to influence lawmakers and officials to extradite supporters of the Fethullah Gulen movement from Germany. Asked to comment, Strobele suggested that attempting to use the BND in this way is not the correct way to go about things. 

“If they insist on the arrest or extradition of certain individuals, there are certain legal and judicial mechanisms for doing so. In Germany, the corresponding decision is taken by a court, which must have compelling evidence that a serious offense has taken place. It is not enough for someone to belong to a particular movement that has followers and is active in Germany.”

Strobele emphasized that he would be doing everything in his power to bring the issue before the Bundestag’s Control Commission, with lawmakers having the right to ask the federal government and federal agencies for a report the situation. Ultimately, the lawmaker suggested that if allegations about a Turkish spy ring turn out to be true, Germany may have to reconsider its intelligence cooperation with Turkey.

Report: German officials say Erdogan supports militants “ideological affinity” with Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood

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Erdogan-islamic-connectionMembers of Germany’s government have accused Turkey’s regime of supporting militant groups in the Middle East public media report. ARD cited a classified document sent from the Interior Ministry to the Left party.

Citing a classified document from the Interior Ministry to representatives of the Left party on Tuesday the German public broadcaster ARD reported, that members of the government consider Turkey’s regime a supporter of militant groups in the Middle East.

German officials appear to have publicly acknowledged, if in a classified document, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s weapons support for militants fighting the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, which Turkish journalists have reported in the past. “Especially since the year 2011 as a result of its incrementally Islamized internal and foreign policy, Turkey has become a central platform for action for Islamist groups in the Middle East,” the German officials said, according to ARD.

German security officials also said Erdogan had an “ideological affinity” with Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, ARD reported. Suppressed under Hosni Mubarak’s dictatorship, the movement went on to produce Egypt’s first democratically elected president, Mohammed Morsi.

Despite the “affinity,” Erdogan has been publicly at odds with the Muslim Brotherhood in the past though he has since also criticized current Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who overthrew Morsi in a 2013 coup. Neither the United States nor the EU considers the Muslim Brotherhood a terror organization.

The German officials also said Erdogan supported Hamas, the democratically elected governing party in the Gaza Strip. Turkey’s president has said as much in the past, having told the US news host Charlie Rose, that “I don’t see Hamas as a terror organization.” Though the United States and EU do list Hamas as a prohibited group, nations such as Norway, Switzerland and Brazil do not.

“It is a resistance movement, trying to protect its country under occupation,” Erdogan added in the 2011 interview, referring to the Israeli state, with which Turkey also enjoys diplomatic ties.

mkg/rc (Reuters, KNA, dpa)

Source: http://www.dw.com/en/report-german-officials-say-erdogan-supports-militants/a-19477846

Austrian FPÖ head compares failed Turkish coup to Reichstag fire in Nazi Germany

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Burning-reichstagThe head of Austria’s far-right party has likened the failed coup in Turkey and subsequent purges to the burning of the Reichstag in Nazi Germany. Turkish President Erdogan has firmly denied any coup involvement.

Heinz-Christian Strache, the leader of right-wing Freedom Party (FPÖ), drew parallels between the aftermath of the Reichstag fire in Nazi Germany and a recent attempted military coup in Turkey, in an interview published on Saturday.

“One almost had the impression that it was a guided putsch aimed in the end at making a presidential dictatorship by Erdogan possible,” Strache told the Austrian daily Die Presse in an interview.

“He then grabbed complete power for himself – with prepared lists,” said Strache.

“We have dramatically experienced such mechanisms in history before, such as the burning of the Reichstag, where one seized complete power as a consequence,” added the FPÖ head.

In 1933, the fire on the German parliament building was depicted by the Nazis as a Communist ploy against the government. The blaze was used to justify curbing civil liberties and finalized Adolf Hitler’s powerful hold on Germany.

His comments were later echoed by Christian Lindner, the leader of Germany’s Free Democrat party (FDP), who also compared the recent failed coup in Turkey to the 1933 Reichstag fire. He told the “Bild am Sonntag” newspaper that Erdogan was “building an authoritarian regime tailored solely to himself.”

Lindner said the power grab meant that Erdogan “cannot be a partner for Europe.” He added that he was disgusted that EU accession talks for Turkey had not been stopped long ago.

Following the attempted military coup on July 15 by a faction within the Turkish army, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan used the coup plot to justify a crackdown on political opponents in universities, media, the judiciary, civil service and the army.

Erdogan has staunchly rejected any accusations that his government might have planned the coup. He has also blamed the attempted uprising on a US-based Muslim cleric.

Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern suggested earlier this week that the European Union discuss the possibility of ending talks with Turkey over its EU membership bid.

Turkey’s foreign minister fired back on Friday, calling Austria the “capital of radical racism” following Kern’s comments.

rs/mm/bw (dpa, Reuters)

Report shows rise in Turkish asylum-seekers in Germany

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turkish-refugeesGrowing domestic tensions in Turkey are causing more Turks to look to Germany for refuge, a newspaper report says. Most of them appear to come from Turkey’s conflict-ridden Kurdish regions.

The number of Turkish citizens seeking asylum in Germany was almost as high in the first half of 2016 as in the entire previous year, according to Friday’s report in the daily “Tagesspiegel.”

The report draws on figures from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), which registered 1719 asylum applications from Turkish citizens from January to June this year as compared with 1,767 for the whole of 2015, the paper said.

BAMF was unable to say whether the failed coup attempt in Turkey in July would cause a further rise in the number of Turkish asylum-seekers coming to Germany.

The “Tagesspiegel” report said most of the asylum-seekers came from Kurdish regions of Turkey’s southeast, which have seen regular clashes between the army and rebels from the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). It said all but 209 of the Turks applying for asylum this year were of Kurdish origin.

However, despite the conflict, there has been a clear drop in the number of asylum applications approved by German authorities, with just 5.2 percent of Kurdish Turks having their application accepted in the first half of the year, according to the paper.

Altogether 6.7 percent of Turkish refugees had their applications approved, the paper said.

tj/rcReuters, AFP)

Germany: Merkel’s deputy, Turkey must not be allowed to blackmail the EU over visa-free movement,

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black-mailGerman Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said Europe won’t be blackmailed

Turkey threatened to back out of agreement to stem the flow of migrants

Said it would only keep agreement if Turks got visa-free travel in EU 

By REUTERS

Europe will not be blackmailed by Turkey in talks for visa-free travel for Turkish citizens in the EU, German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said on Monday as relations with Ankara are strained in the aftermath of a failed coup.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said over the weekend that Ankara would back out of its agreement with the EU to stem the flow of migrants if the bloc does not deliver the promised visa-free travel for Turks in return.

Visa-free access has been subject to delays due to a dispute over Turkish anti-terrorism legislation and the post-coup crackdown. Berlin urged Turkey to show proportionality in its pursuit of those behind the coup, comments that angered Ankara.

‘It is up to Turkey if there is or there isn’t visa liberalisation,’ Gabriel said. ‘Germany and Europe should under no circumstances be blackmailed.’

Gabriel applauded a decision to prevent Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan from addressing via video-link a rally in Cologne on Sunday. The ban prompted the Turkish Foreign Ministry to summon the German charges d’affaires.

Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said it remained up to Turkey to fulfil the conditions required for visa liberalisation.

‘Turkey still has work to finish off here. Whether they do this under the current conditions we will have to wait and see,’ Steinmeier told reporters.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3718716/Europe-not-blackmailed-Turkey-overs-visas-Merkels-deputy.html

Germany: Far-right anti-Erdogan protest allowed to go ahead in Cologne on day of demonstrations

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turkish-protest-germanyA court in Münster has given permission for a far-right protest against Turkish President Erdogan to take place on Sunday in Cologne. Erdogan supporters will also be taking to the streets of the western German city.

A spokesman for the Higher Administrative Court in Münster confirmed on Saturday that it had rejected an appeal by Cologne police to ban an anti-Erdogan demonstration called by the far-right political party Pro NRW for Sunday.

The court upheld an earlier decision by a Cologne court to allow the demonstration to go ahead, despite police fears that violent members of the HoGeSa (Hooligans Against Salafists) group could join in the protest.

The demonstration is to take place under the motto “No tributes to Erdogan in Germany: Stop the Islamist autocrat from the Bosporus” in response to a planned rally by up to 30,000 Erdogan supporters in the city on the same day.

No Erdogan live presentation

The Münster court, which is responsible for administrative disputes, also rejected an appeal by the organizers of the pro-Erdogan demonstration to be allowed to show the Turkish president live on a large screen during the event.

Police have voiced fears that such a presentation could cause participants to become over-excited.

Police in Cologne are planning to deploy 2,300 officers and have six water cannon on hand in case violence does break out at any of the demonstrations planned in the city on Sunday, which also include rallies by leftists and youth organizations affiliated with German parties.

Erdogan critics ‘targeted’

In comments carried in the Saturday edition of the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” newspaper, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called on participants in the pro-Erdogan demonstration to display moderation.

Steinmeier said it was “not permissible” to bring domestic political tensions from Turkey to Germany or to intimidate people with different political views.

The leader of the Greens, Cem Özdemir, also criticized alleged attempts at intimidation ahead of the demonstration, telling newspapers of the Funke media group that critics of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan among Germany’s Turkish community were being targeted.

Özdemir said that demonstrations for or against Turkish leaders had to take place “on the basis of the [German] legal system.”

“An atmosphere of fear must not be created,” he said.

Turkey in turmoil

Sunday’s demonstrations come as Erdogan continues with purges of the army, judiciary, the education system and the media following a failed coup on July 15.

Critics of the president fear that he might be using the coup as an excuse to increase his already tight political grip on the country.

Some three million people of Turkish origin live in Germany, making it the world’s largest Turkish diaspora.

tj/jlw (AFP, dpa)

Germany: Police in Cologne wary ahead of Turkey coup protests

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gulen-erdogan-germany“Do not import a domestic political conflict to the region where you have chosen to live,” Hannelore Kraft said.

Cologne police won’t rule out canceling a planned demonstration by supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan if they cannot ensure public safety. Tensions have risen in Germany following Turkey’s failed coup.

In a press conference Friday, the police chief in the western German city of Cologne said they had estimated up 30,000 people, most of them Erdogan supporters, to take part in the rally scheduled for Sunday. The protest organizers, pro-Erdogan group the Union of European-Turkish Democrats (UETD) were expecting about 20,000 people. Several counter-demonstrations were also planned.

“We are expecting an atmosphere which is highly emotionally charged,” Cologne police chief Jürgen Mathies said.

About 2,300 police officers, including some who speak Turkish, are to be on duty.

German authorities have also demanded that the rally organizers provide them a list of the planned speakers amid reports senior Turkish politicians would be attending.

“We will constantly assess the situation. Should we come to the conclusion that public safety cannot be ensured, I will cancel the demonstration, even at short notice” Mathies added, warning that police would intervene against any kind of violence “quickly, decisively and forcefully.”

‘Don’t import conflict’

Some three million people of Turkish heritage live in Germany, the world’s largest Turkish diaspora. About half of those are eligible to vote in Turkish elections and in the latest vote the AKP party founded by Erdogan gained 60 percent, a bigger share than in Turkey. Following the failed coup and the series of purges in its aftermath – including a call from Ankara for Germany to hand over alleged supporters of accused coup-plotter Fethullah Gulen – concern that the tensions will play out on German soil has increased.

The state premier of North Rhine-Westphalia, where Cologne is situated, urged Turkish residents to show restraint.

“Do not import a domestic political conflict to the region where you have chosen to live,” Hannelore Kraft said.

Counter-demonstrations

The planned counter-demonstrations included those organized by the far-right party Pro NRW and the group HoGeSa (Hooligans against Salafists). A demonstration called “stop Erdogan” for “democracy and human rights in Turkey” has been organized by the youth wings four German political parties: the Greens, Social Democrats, the Left party and the Free Democrats.

Source: http://www.dw.com/en/police-in-cologne-wary-ahead-of-turkey-coup-protests/a-19437244

Green party head warns about ‘Turkish PEGIDA’ in Germany

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green-partyGreen party co-head Cem Özdemir has cautioned against radical Turkish nationalists in Germany. Özdemir has also suggested possible sanctions and said the government must send a signal to curb “Erdogan’s long arm.”

In the aftermath of a failed military coup in Turkey, Germany’s Green party co-leader said German politicians need to treat radical Turkish nationalist groups with the same caution as radical right-wing groups in Germany interview on Sunday.

“There is, unfortunately, a form of Turkish PEGIDA in Germany that we must treat the same way as the group we already know of,” Cem Özdemir told the German newspaper “Bild am Sonntag.”

Özdemir told the newspaper that, in Germany, there was a consensus that German right-wing populists existed “on the margins of society and are not normal interlocutors.”

“But for radical Turks, these standards to not apply,” he added. Anti-immigration movement PEGIDA, has drawn attention for its rallies and xenophobic rhetoric which criticizes Germany’s asylum and refugee policy.

If PEGIDA leader Lutz Bachmann were invited to an event, no “self-respecting democrat” would attend, said the Green party chief.

He urged that this kind of political attitude must now be applied to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government representatives who are based in Germany.

In the interview with “Bild am Sonntag,” Özdemir especially criticized the Turkish mosque organization DITIB – one of the largest Islamic organizations in Germany.

He said the organization should break away from the influence of Turkey in order to not become “the extended arm” of Erdogan’s AKP party.

“If we open Muslim religious schools through the DITIB, then we allow Erdogan’s ideology to be spread through our classrooms,” warned Özdemir. “I find that intolerable.”

The European Union should consider sanctions which directly affect those in power in Turkey, “if democracy, rule of law and human rights continue to be suspended,” urged Özdemir, suggesting bank account and asset freezes.

The EU has expressed concern over the imposition of a state of emergency in the wake of an attempted military coup, though the criticism has not been well received by Erdogan. Parts of the European Convention on Human Rights have also been suspended in the country.

rs/rc (AFP, dpa)

Breaking news: Germany Munich shooting

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munich-shootingA major police operation is underway at the Olympia shopping center (OEZ) in Munich. Shots have been fired and several people have been reported injured. Read the latest here.

20.23 Police have said there are unconfirmed reports of more violence and possible gunfire in the city center, asking people to avoid public areas as the situation is unclear:

18.20 German train operator Deutsche Bahn has evacuated Munich main train station.

18.15 Munich police issued a statement on their Facebook page reporting that witnesses saw three different individuals with firearms.

18.04 Police issued warnings in English asking people to avoid public areas because of gunfire:

Media reports in Germany cited local police saying that several people were injured and some may have been killed as shots were fired in the Olympia shopping center (OEZ) in Munich, southern Germany on Friday evening.

Police said the situation remained unclear but that several people had been injured:

https://youtu.be/a_BwoZlxiew

https://youtu.be/uNh9jXzq0U0