German writer critical of Turkey's Erdogan arrested in Spain
Source: Reuters
BERLIN (Reuters) - German-Turkish author Dogan Akhanli was arrested in Spain on Saturday after Turkey issued an Interpol warrant for the writer, a critic of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government, fanning an already fierce row between the NATO allies.
The arrest of the German national in Granada was part of a "targeted hunt against critics of the Turkish government living abroad in Europe," Akhanli's lawyer Ilias Uyar told magazine Der Spiegel, which first reported Akhanli's detention.
A German foreign office official said Germany was in touch with Spanish authorities demanding that Berlin be involved in any extradition proceedings and insisting that no extradition should take place.
Any country can issue an Interpol "red notice", but extradition by Spain would only follow if Ankara could convince Spanish courts it had a real case against him.
-snip-
#WORLD NEWS AUGUST 19, 2017 / 10:19 AM / 4 HOURS AGO
Thomas Escritt
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-turkey-interpol-idUSKCN1AZ0HN
scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)Time to kick Turkey out of NATO?
ornotna
(10,800 posts)Dictators do love to silence their critics.
Hieronymus
(6,039 posts)muriel_volestrangler
(101,311 posts)Tthis seems to be purely for his writing:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-40990083
Akhanlı was born in Şavşat in the Artvin Province located in the Northeast of Turkey. He grew up in this small village. Age 12 he moved to live with his older brother in Istanbul and to continue education. He was arrested for a brief period in 1975 because he bought a left-wing paper. This incident led to his political interest and engagement. After the coup d'état in 1980 he went underground. From 1985 to 1987 he was imprisoned for political reasons in a military jail in Istanbiul. Akhanlı was tortured there. In 1991 he fled to Germany and requested asylum. Since the mid 1990s he lives in Cologne as a writer of political prose and essays. In 1998 the Turkish authorities stripped him of his citizenship. Three years later he became a German citizen.
Akhanli is a collaborator of the association "recherche international", which furthers the investigation of the Armenian Genocide, committed in the first quarter of the 20th century. He has repeatedly raised his voice to debate the crimes against the Armenians. He also initiated the foundation of the Raphael Lemkin Library, located in Cologne, named after the man, he first described the atrocities agains the Armenians as genocide.
On 10 August 2010, Doğan Akhanlı was arrested on entry into Turkey and was kept in investigative detention due to an alleged participation in a 1989 robbery incident. In December 2010 he was released. The trial continued in 2011 in his absence. Akhanlı denied any involvement in the crime and denounced the accusation as politically motivated and constructed. On 12 October 2011, Akhanlı was acquitted "for lack of evidence". Two witnesses had withdrawn their accusations, stating that they were forced by police to name Akhanlı. Therafter the Turkish authorities imposed an entry ban on the writer which was heavily criticized by German politician Cem Özdemir. In April 2013, the acquittal was lifted and an international arrest warrant was issued. On 19 August 2017, the Spanish police arrested Akhanlı in Granada at the request of Turkish authorities.[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
...
Akhanlı has consistently displayed a very direct and open approach to historical violence, defending the universality of human rights and searching for the cause of the violence of the masses. His commitment in literature and political statements centers around the genocides of the 20th century, the Armenian genocide and the Shoah. His literature promotes cross-cultural dialogue and combines it with a call to reconciliation.
He has repeatedly spoken out in favor of imprisoned Turkish writers such as Aslı Erdoğan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do%C4%9Fan_Akhanl%C4%B1
muriel_volestrangler
(101,311 posts)...
Mr Akhanli is being released on condition that he stays in Madrid, his lawyer said.
"The fight was worth it," Ilias Uyar said in a Facebook post after the hearing. "Dogan Akhanli is free."
Mr Akhanli was detained on Saturday in the city of Granada, where he was reportedly on holiday.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-40992647
It's still a form of harassment, of course. He's been detained, moved around the country, and can't go home yet.
Coventina
(27,115 posts)appal_jack
(3,813 posts)See:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-eu-idUSKBN17Y0U0
from May of this year for details of how Erdogan's executive power referendum gave the EU negotiators pause. I agree fully that the whole idea of an illiberal, authoritarian, and autocratic Turkey entering the EU is ludicrous.
Erdogan can have his tyrannical 1-party state, or he can claim membership with his democratic and liberal nation state neighbors; but he can't have it both ways.
The accession process should be scrapped entirely until Turkey establishes a consistent record of human rights, press freedoms, and religious tolerance. Instead, Erdogan pretends that legitimate democratic concerns are "Islamophobia." He can shove it up his tight little ass as far as I am concerned.
-app
LeftishBrit
(41,205 posts)It's horrible what's happening there with Erdogan