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TEHRAN, October 01 - Turkey has called on Germany to extradite 136 people with suspected links to groups that played a key role in orchestrating the July 2016 coup attempt against the government in Ankara.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - Turkey's English-language Hurriyet Daily News newspaper said on Monday that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters on a return flight after a visit to Berlin last week that Turkey had delivered a list of 136 people for extradition from Germany following the failed coup.
“I don't know all of the names but it is a substantial list. A list of 136 people in Germany," Hurriyet quoted the Turkish president as saying, without specifying which groups or individuals were included.
The paper, however, quoted Erdogan as saying that Germany should be more effective in countering members of the network of the US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militant group and the far-left Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C).
Erdogan also said his administration had in the past delivered documents to Berlin containing the names of more than 4,000 people with links to the PKK, adding that there was a difference in the "understanding of terror" between Turkey and both Germany and the United States.
During the 2016 botched putsch, a faction of the Turkish military declared that it had seized control of the country and the government of Erdogan was no more in charge. The attempt was, however, suppressed a few hours later.
Turkey and Germany, two NATO allies, have seen their ties strained in the wake of the failed. Berlin has fiercely criticized Ankara for its post-coup crackdown, which has expanded to target the Kurds, saying authorities have acted beyond the rule of law.
Erdogan has on numerous occasions alleged that thousands of PKK-linked Kurdish militants as well as hundreds with ties to Gulen – whom has been accused by Ankara of having masterminded the 2016 coup - are living in Germany.
Turkey, which remains in a state of emergency since the coup, has been engaged in suppressing the media and opposition groups suspected to have played a role in the failed coup.
Tens of thousands of people have been arrested in Turkey on suspicion of having links to Gulen and the failed coup. More than 110,000 others, including military staff, civil servants and journalists, have been sacked or suspended from work over the same accusations.
The international community and rights groups have been highly critical of the Turkish president over the massive dismissals and the crackdown.
Source: Press TV
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