Germany protests Turkish-born writer’s arrest in Spain
BERLIN – Germany’s foreign minister is urging Spain not to extradite a German writer to Turkey after he was arrested on a Turkish warrant.
Sigmar Gabriel called his Spanish counterpart Saturday over the arrest of Doghan Akhanli while on holiday in Spain.
Akhanli was born in Turkey but emigrated to Germany in 1991 after spending years in Turkish prison following the 1984 military coup in the country.
German news agency dpa reports that Akhanli only has German citizenship.
The German section of the writers’ associated PEN said charges against Akhanli centre on a crime committed while he wasn’t in Turkey. The group said it believes the arrest warrant against Akhanli to be politically motivated, citing his writings about the mass killing of Armenians in Turkey in 1915.
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