Spain releases German-Turkish writer sought by Ankara

The accused writes on Turkey's record on human rights


Afp August 20, 2017
On Saturday, Erdogan told Gabriel to "know your limits" after he vehemently criticised the Turkish leader for interfering in Germany's coming elections.PHOTO: AFP

BERLIN: A Spanish court Sunday granted conditional release from custody to German-Turkish writer Dogan Akhanli a day after police arrested him at Ankara's request, his lawyer said.

"The battle was worth it," the lawyer, Ilias Uyar, wrote on Facebook, adding that Akhanli "is being released from detention on condition he stays in Madrid", and that Turkey would have to formally request his extradition.

Spanish police had arrested Akhanli, who writes on Turkey's record on human rights, while he was on holiday in Granada after receiving a so-called Interpol red notice, similar to an international arrest warrant.

Berlin quickly urged Madrid not to extradite Cologne-based Akhanli, who has previously been jailed in Turkey, to the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The arrest was initially announced by German Green MP Volker Beck, who described it as a politically motivated move by Erdogan.

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German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel discussed the case with his Spanish counterpart Alfonso Dastis on Saturday.

Relations between Turkey and Germany, home to three million ethnic Turks, have been badly strained, particularly in the wake of the failed coup against Erdogan a year ago.

Gabriel last month vowed stinging measures hitting tourism and investment in Turkey and a full "overhaul" of troubled relations, and accused Erdogan of trying to muzzle "every critical voice" with mass arrests in sweeping crackdowns.

On Saturday, Erdogan told Gabriel to "know your limits" after he vehemently criticised the Turkish leader for interfering in Germany's coming elections.

Turkey is holding several German citizens in custody, including Turkish-German journalist Deniz Yucel, the Istanbul correspondent of the Die Welt newspaper, who faces trial on terror charges.

Germany wants to prevent Akhanli from ending up behind bars in Turkey, where he was jailed from 1985 to 1987 before he moved to Cologne in the 1990s and became a German citizen in 2001.

Akhanli has written about the killing of Armenians under the Ottoman Turkish empire.

Half a million to 1.5 million Armenians were killed between 1915 and 1917, a bloodletting that Armenia and Western historians describe as genocide.

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Turkey vehemently objects to the term, saying that 300,000 to 500,000 Armenians and as many Turks died in civil strife when Armenians rose up and sided with invading Russian troops.

Akhanli was again arrested in 2010, upon his arrival at the Istanbul airport, for alleged implication in an armed robbery in 1989.

He was released four months later and then declared innocent, before an appeals court ordered new proceedings against him.

German Green MPs took up his cause, saying he had been a victim of political persecution.

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