Germany softens travel warning for Turkey after end of emergency rule
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The German Foreign Ministry softened travel advice for its citizens in Turkey after Ankara lifted a controversial state of emergency on Thursday that had been in place for two years.
The travel advice no longer warns German nationals of the possibility of arbitrary arrest in all of Turkey, including tourist areas, Der Spiegel reported.
German officials had previously promised Turkey they would alter the wording if the security measure was lifted. However, it still warns German nationals that a risk of arrest remains, despite the lifting of emergency rule, and mentions a new bill that the Turkish government is now considering.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned on Friday that the new draft law being rushed through parliament would effectively make many of the provisions in the previous state of emergency a permanent part of Turkish legislation.
Critics have long argued that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government was using the state of emergency to cripple freedoms and bring additional state institutions, including the judiciary and national police force, within his control.
The updated travel advice furthermore adds that Turkish authorities arrest people not only for suspected membership in organizations such as the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Islamic State (IS), but also the Gülen movement, which is not listed as a terrorist organization in Germany. Contacts with this group, or with affiliated companies or persons, could lead to arrest, even if the person being arrested is not aware of these links.
Relations between Germany and Turkey worsened after the German Foreign Ministry warned that citizens could face arbitrary arrest, including in tourist areas, following a spate of arrests of German citizens in 2017.
The decision was a major blow to the Turkish tourist industry amidst worsening economic conditions and insecurity following the failed military coup in 2016. As a result, the number of German tourists visiting Turkey dropped sharply.
When Turkey requested that wording be softened, Acting German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel told his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in March that his government is not prepared to reconsider its travel warning as long as Turkey continued to impose a state of emergency, Deutsche Welle reported.
Apart from the change to the travel warning, Germany will also partially lift economic sanctions for exports it imposed on Turkey in 2017, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported on Friday.
Editing by John J. Catherine