As of: March 13, 2024, 12:14 p.m
By: Erkan Pehlivan
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Press
Split
Critics of the Turkish president abroad are repeatedly reported to Turkey.
If you enter the country you risk being arrested for terrorism.
Voerde – It is not an isolated case.
People of Turkish origin living in Germany are spied on and their information is passed on to Turkey because they are allegedly terrorists.
This time it hit a teacher from Voerde in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The 31-year-old had been shopping online, which was his downfall.
The driver of a parcel delivery service later reported the man and his wife to the Turkish authorities as members of a terrorist organization.
The courier driver, who lives in Gelsenkirchen, called the Foreign Ministry's reporting office and said that, in his opinion, mathematics teacher Ali S. (name changed), who came to Germany from Turkey more than three years ago, was a member of the terrorist organization FETÖ.
This was shown by the man's behavior and the style of his wife's headscarf, according to the document from the governor's office and the public prosecutor's office in Ankara, which is available to our editorial team.
After the coup attempt in 2016, the movement around the preacher Fethullah Gülen, who lives in exile in the US, was classified as a terrorist organization by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and has since been designated FETÖ (Fethullah's Terrorist Organization) by the Turkish government.
The same document shows that the same courier driver had previously reported a Kurdish woman from Essen to the Turkish authorities as a terrorist because he had seen several pictures of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan on the walls of the apartment.
Even more denunciations of the courier driver from Turks in Germany are feared
Fr.de from IPPEN.MEDIA spoke to the accused Ali S., who is visibly upset.
He is worried that the parcel service employee has denounced other people of Turkish origin as terrorists.
“Such people must be stopped.
I am neither the first nor the last person this man is believed to have reported to the Turkish authorities as a terrorist.
This man puts other people in danger.
Anyone who enters Turkey can be arrested because of this man.”
Erdogan critics are repeatedly spied on in Germany.
© IMAGO / Müller-Stauffenberg
Danger of arrest for Erdogan critics not only in Turkey
The father of the family is worried.
Ali S. will no longer travel to Turkey as quickly, but there is also a risk of being arrested in other countries - at the behest of the Turkish government.
Above all, the danger for Erdogan's critics is very great in countries with which Turkey has good relations.
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The couple had to leave Turkey over three years ago.
Shortly after the coup attempt, Ali S. was arrested for membership in a terrorist organization and sentenced to six years and three months in prison.
After a year in prison, the man was temporarily released.
His wife, a sociologist, was even sentenced to seven years and ten months in prison for the same charge.
Suspected informer refuses to provide information
Fr.de
from IPPEN.MEDIA also contacted the courier driver
.
The Gelsenkirchen man's telephone number was noted in the documents we have.
The man did not want to comment on the denunciation cases.
Instead, he threatened to file a criminal complaint because it involved “secret documents” from the Turkish government.
Our editorial team had already uncovered a similar denunciation case on February 2, 2023.
At that time, an employee of a security service reported the names of people of Turkish origin from a refugee accommodation in Grevenbroich, also in North Rhine-Westphalia, to the Turkish Consulate General in Düsseldorf because they were terrorists.
Denunciation of Erdogan critics: Left-wing MPs demand consequences
Politicians are also concerned about denunciations of Erdogan's critics in Germany.
“Denunciations of oppositional activities and the resulting investigations by Turkish criminal authorities are a big problem for people with ties to Turkey living here.
Because expressions of opinion that are completely legal here can have unexpected consequences the next time you travel to Turkey.
People who, according to German standards, behave completely in accordance with the law must fear being turned away at the border because of such denunciations or, even worse, being arrested upon entry,” said Bundestag member Gökay Akbulut (Left) in an interview with our editorial team.
Akbulut was himself targeted by the Turkish police.
“I was also briefly arrested last year for ancient social media posts.
“Many Internet users practice self-censorship or avoid traveling to Turkey out of fear of being at risk, even though they would like to visit their family or friends.”
The left-wing MP is therefore calling for “noticeable legal consequences” for informers and informers who trigger restrictions on freedom in Turkey that violate human rights.
“At the same time, the federal government must set clear limits on the Turkish government and point out that such spying activities will not be tolerated here.”
Obtaining information is easy for Erdogan
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution is also likely to be aware of such cases.
“Human sources remain a traditionally particularly important resource for information in the area of espionage,” it says on the domestic secret service’s website.
But in the case of Turkey, Erdogan's incitement is having an effect on his critics.
Information gathering runs automatically – without recruitment.
There are several hotlines run by Turkish authorities and also the Turkish police spy app, “EGM”.