The Turkish government has submitted 848 requests for search or arrest to Germany via Interpol since a coup attempt in Turkey on July 15, 2016, according to a report by Deutsche Welle (DW) Turkish service on Wednesday.
In response to a parliamentary inquiry from Germany’s Left Party (Die Linke), the Germany Justice Ministry stated that Turkey has submitted 848 requests including applications to the country’s law enforcement agency for the arrest of 791 people and for determination of the residential addresses of 57 people located in Germany.
However, the German Justice Ministry provided no information on how many of Turkey’s applications have been responded to positively by Germany.
Meanwhile, Andrej Hunko, Die Linke’s European policy spokesperson, issued a statement and said 130 search requests submitted to Interpol since 2014 have been canceled on the grounds that the people in question were being sought due to their political views and that the authority of Interpol was being abused.
“I think the majority of applications for search or arrest that have been canceled on the grounds that Interpol is being abused have originated from Turkey, Ukraine and Spain. It is known that these countries use Interpol to suppress the opposition,” Hunko said.
(Stockholm Center for Freedom [SCF] with Turkish Minute)