German lawmaker briefly detained on trip to Turkey

The German lawmaker Gökay Akbulut says she was arrested while visiting Turkey, apparently on allegations of spreading terrorist propaganda.

Akbulut was detained under an arrest warrant at Antalya airport, despite showing a diplomatic passport.

What we know about the arrest

The politician, from the far-left Die Linke (The Left) party, said she had only found out that there was an arrest warrant against her when she arrived at the airport.

Akbulut has repeatedly criticized the Turkish government. She is campaigning for Germany to lift a ban on the activities of the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK), which is classed as a terrorist organization both in the European Union and Turkey.

The German Foreign Office said it had been aware of the arrest, which took place on August 3. Both the German embassy in Ankara and the consulate in Antalya had been in close contact with the lawmaker.

"The federal government intervened on her behalf at a high level, vigorously and through various channels" to obtain Akbulut's immediate release, the Foreign Office said.

Akbulut said the arrest had been linked to social media posts from 2019, but that the case was dropped before she was even questioned. 

What the politician said

Akbulut thanked officials for their intervention, adding that the incident showed there was no separation of powers in Turkey. 

She cut her visit to relatives short but promised she would not be silenced by the arrest.

"Don't worry: I won't be intimidated by the arrest warrant," she  wrote on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter

"In October I will travel to [Turkey] again as part of the delegation trip of the German-Turkish Parliamentary Group and, as always, will not mince my words," she wrote.

The 40-year-old has served as a lawmaker in the German parliament, or Bundestag, since 2017. She was born in Turkey and of Kurdish-Alevi descent, Kurds who follow the heterodox Islamic tradition of Alevism.

German journalists union cautions against Turkey visits

Reacting to Akbulut's arrest, the German Federation of Journalists (DJV) advised media professionals to avoid any business or leisure travel to Turkey.

Frank Überall, the DJV's national chairman, argued in a Monday statement that if Akbulut's parliamentary immunity failed to protect her, the danger for journalists was even greater.

"Anyone who, as a journalist, has ever made critical comments about Turkey, its president or the ruling AKP party in their own articles and on social networks should stay away from the country," Überall said. He added that anything else would be an incalculable risk.

Überall also criticized Akbulut's arrest.

"The case shows once again that Erdogan's autocracy considers its critics militant enemies of the state and persecutes them when it has the opportunity to do so."

Rights groups consider Turkey among the world's leading jailers of journalists. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has counted 40 journalist detentions since Dec 1, 2022.

rc/rt (AFP, dpa)