PodcastArrest of lawyer hired by German Embassy 'provocation'
German MP Omid Nouripour has said that the arrest of a lawyer hired by the German Embassy in Ankara is a "provocation," calling on the German government to show its reaction to this incident "explicitly." German media reported on Nov. 20 that the lawyer named Yılmaz S. was arrested by Turkish authorities in mid-September.
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Omid Nouripour, a German deputy and spokesperson for foreign affairs for the German Green Party's parliamentary group, has said that the arrest of a Turkish lawyer hired by the German Embassy in Ankara was a “provocation.”
“To arrest someone that the German Embassy sees as trustworthy is the next stage of the provocation that has been ignited by Ankara. Here, apart from diplomatic practices, Germany’s executive organ itself is being violated,” Nouripour told Deutsche Welle on Nov. 21.
Nouripour further said that the German government needs to show its reaction to Ankara in no uncertain terms. “The government should now show its reaction explicitly and put a ‘stop sign’ in front of [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan,” he said.
German magazine Der Spiegel reported on Nov. 20 that Turkey had arrested a Turkish lawyer hired by the German Embassy in Ankara in mid-September on charges of espionage.
The lawyer had been reportedly hired by the German Embassy to provide documents related to Turkish citizens who had applied for asylum in Germany.
Martin Erdmann, Ambassador of Germany to Turkey, later confirmed this arrest, saying that the incident was “incomprehensible” for them. “In whole Europe, the cooperation between lawyers and diplomatic missions is a usual practice that makes it possible for foreign missions to undertake their works in line with the provisions of the Vienne Convention,” he said in a written statement.
“Our legal adviser has provided our embassy with internationally customary and, in our view, indisputably acceptable support,” he also said.
'Sensitive data'
Der Spiegel said in its report that as part of his work for the embassy, the lawyer had sought information from local police and prosecutors about the likelihood of asylum-seekers facing imprisonment on their return to Turkey.
The German government now fears that "sensitive data and files of 50 asylum-seekers have reached the Turkish intelligence service," the report also said.