Germany rejects Turkey’s asset freeze request: Report
A high-circulation German magazine has reported that authorities in Berlin have turned down a request by Ankara for imposing financial restrictions on those believed to have played a role in last year's coup attempt in Turkey.
Der Spiegel said on Saturday, without naming its sources, that in June the German Foreign Ministry officially refused to freeze the assets of members of the network of Fethullah Gulen, a US-based cleric who is accused by the government in Ankara of masterminding the abortive coup of July 15, 2016.
Turkey had submitted the request and a list of 80 names in April, demanding that Berlin exclude them from Germany’s financial system.
German authorities, however, responded by saying that there were no legal grounds for financial watchdog BaFin to crack down on the Gulen movement and its supporters, said Der Spiegel.
Germany’s Foreign Ministry has yet to comment on the report, which also claimed that extradition requests sent from Turkey to Germany had increased his year. It said 56 such requests had been submitted this year, already exceeding the total number in 2016.
Germany’s refusal to freeze the assets of Gulenists comes against the backdrop of tensions between Berlin and Ankara since a crackdown unfolded in Turkey over the coup. Germany has repeatedly criticized Turkey’s mass arrests and dismissals of state workers and military personnel, which according to official statements, have affected more than 150,000 people.
Turkey has also arrested and prosecuted several German nationals over links to the failed coup, further angering German officials. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday that Berlin should react decisively to the detention a day earlier of two more German citizens in Turkey. The two, of the Turkish origin and identified as K.A. and S.A, were arrested on Thursday in Antalya airport, a popular Mediterranean tourist destination, over alleged links to the Gulen network.
A total of 12 German citizens, four of them dual nationals, are now in Turkish detention on political charges.
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