Kurdish-German MP arrested in Turkey
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Kurdish-German politician Gökay Akbulut from Der Linke (The Left) was briefly arrested in Turkey on Aug. 3 after an arrest warrant was issued by Turkish judicial authorities for alleged ‘terror propaganda.’
+++Weitere Infos zum türk. Haftbefehl gegen mich+++
— Gökay Akbulut MdB (@AkbulutGokay) August 13, 2023
1. Beschuldigt wurde ich aufgrund von Social-Media-Beiträgen von 2019 mit "Terrorpropaganda".
2. Die mehrfachen Morddrohungen gegen mich kamen ebenfalls aus Kayseri (Türkei), wie der Haftbefehl.
3. Meinen Verwandten-Besuch… pic.twitter.com/VNuBwLovgw
“I was accused of ‘terror propaganda’ based on social media posts from 2019,” she posted on the social media platform X on Sunday, formerly known as Twitter.
“I kept my visit to relatives short and left the country. 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 added.
Akbulut said that she learned there was an arrest warrant from the Kayseri prosecutor’s office when she was at the airport.
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported that the German Foreign Office intervened and pressured Turkey to release her.
In May 2022, she put forth a proposal urging a reversal of the prohibition on the PKK's operations in Germany.
The PKK, identified as a terrorist organization by the EU in 2002, has been prohibited from operating in Germany since 1993.
The German government has previously warned its citizens in a travel advisory for visitors to Turkey, warning its citizens, especially Kurds, that they risk being arrested for anti-government statements on social media.