Two months after his arrest in Spain, German-Turkish writer Doğan Akhanlı returned to Germany. As his lawyer Ilias Uyar told, 60-year-old was insulted by a suspected follower of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on his arrival at Düsseldorf airport as “country traitors”. “You’re not safe here,” man called him in Turkish.
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Akhanlı was arrested in mid-August during a holiday in Andalusia. The reason for this was a Turkish arrest warrant, which was forwarded via Interpol, which was carried out by Spanish authorities. Chancellor Angela Merkel accused Turkey of abusing international police organisation. After an intervention by Foreign Office, Akhanlı was released again, but was not allowed to leave Spain.
Among or things, Turkey accuses him of being involved in an armed robbery. Akhanlı rejects accusation and was finally convinced that his critical remarks about Turkish politics are behind arrest. Just last week, Spanish judiciary had decided that Akhanlı would not be Türkeiausgeliefert to return to Germany.
“The chase of Turkey has failed,” said Akhanlı in Düsseldorf. It can be seen that this country is persecuting people arbitrarily. On Friday he wants to take a detailed position at a press conference at Cologne City Hall.