Monday, April 3, 2017

Turkish diplomats, military request asylum in Germany............

Berlin is revising its guidelines for Turkish asylum seekers given President Erdogan's "systematic persecution of alleged members of the Gulenmovement."
Hannover Messe Industrie (picture-alliance/dpa)
More and more Turks are seeking refuge in Germany.

A total of 262 asylum requests from Turkish citizens who have worked as diplomats or soldiers are currently being reviewed by Germany's Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), "Der Spiegel" reported on Saturday.
According to the news magazine, the BAMF had not yet made a decision on any of the cases.

Based on an assessment from the German foreign ministry, the BAMF is currently reworking its guidelines for Turkey, "Der Spiegel" reported. Because of this, the ratio of granted asylum requests from Turkey in Germany could soon rise.
Fethullah Gülen (picture alliance/dpa/M.Smith)
President Erdogan has accused preacher and political activist Fethullan Gulen (pictured) of orchestrating the coup, but Gulen has denied this 'Excessive' use of terrorism accusations.

The foreign ministry found that there are "clear indicators that there is a systematic persecution of alleged members of the Gulen movement" and that Ankara has made "excessive" terrorism accusations.

Following a military coup in July 2016, theadministration of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has taken increasingly harsh measure against critics and alleged members of the so-called Gulen movement. 
Erdogan has accused Turkish preacher Fethullah Gulen, who is currently in exile in the US, of orchestrating coup against him. Gulen has denied this.

Turkey has officially been in a"state of emergency" since the coup, which allows officials more leeway in detaining and prosecuting alleged coup supporters and people allegedly linked to terrorist activities. 
Thousands of government employees have been fired, including many teachers and professors critical of Erdogan's conservative-nationalist agenda.

When German media reported on Turkish military officers who had sought asylum in Germany earlier this year, one of the soldiers accused Erdogan of attempting to eliminate pro-western soldiers from the armed forces.
Deniz Yücel (picture-alliance/dpa/K. Schindler)
Tension between Germany and Turkey has increased over the past few months, with German and Turkish officials using an increasingly hostile tone towards one another.
culled from dw

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