The politics of handcuffs

How Turkey is misusing Interpol to pursue critics of President Erdoğan.

Dogan Akhanli is a German writer of Turkish origin. Last year he traveled from Germany to Spain - on vacation. He landed in the city of Granada and together with his partner, a Turk with a German passport, decided to follow the footsteps of the poet Federico García Lorca, who was killed by fascist phalanxes on August 19, 1936. The crime took place not far from Granada, and Lorca's grave is not found yet.

Dogan Akhanli was arrested by Spanish police also on August 19 - the anniversary of the Spanish poet's murder. Akhanli was arrested at the request of Turkey, processed through Interpol. Turkish authorities claim that Akhanli was part of a left-wing terrorist group that carried out a robbery attack 27 years ago.

Dogan Akhanli's fate was his German citizenship. After the arrest, the German Embassy was immediately involved and the author was released from prison, but was forced to wait two months in Madrid until a decision was made for or against his extradition to Turkey. Spanish justice ruled against extradition. The time spent in Spain, between the fear that he would be handed over to the Turkish authorities, the hope that he would be saved thanks to the commitment of Germany and the conviction that the Spanish justice would ignore the Turkish request, served Dogan Akhanli to write a book, which is published these days. "Arrest in Granada or is Turkey slipping into dictatorship?" («Verhaftung in Granada oder Treibt die Türkei in die Diktatur?», published by: Kiepenheuer & Witsch).

The book describes the life of Dogan Akhanli, which is inseparable from the Turkey of recent decades. He was first arrested in 1975 for buying a leftist newspaper. He was later arrested again for joining the Communist Revolutionary Party (which was illegal). After the military coup in Turkey in 1980, Akhanli went underground. The military regime arrested over 100 Turks under the charge of being leftists. To fight the leftists, the army gave more space to religion in public life. When it is said today that the Turkish army has always been the protector of Kemalism, which as an ideology insisted on the separation of religion from the state, this does not at least apply to the coup d'état of 1980.

Dogan Akhanli has been living in Germany for years. As a German citizen, he can afford to criticize the government in Ankara and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The Turkish leader is very sensitive to criticism. And to catch his critics he does not choose tools. This includes the use and misuse of Interpol arrest warrants.

Dogan Akhanli is not the only one wanted by Turkey. The so-called Turkish justice is looking for many Turks residing in the outside world - especially in Western Europe, under the often blanket charge of being the supporters of Fetullah Gülen's Movement. But Kurdish politicians are also targeted. On February 25, Salih Muslim, politician of the Syrian Kurds, was arrested in Prague. Even in his case, it is about misuse of Interpol to handcuff political opponents.

Salih Muslim had come to Prague to participate in a conference on the situation of the Kurds in Syria and the action of Turkish forces against the city of Afrin, which is controlled by Kurdish rebels. In 2013, Erdoğan himself welcomed Salih Muslim in Ankara. Now, after his arrest in Prague, Erdoğan said: "Our hope is that the Czech Republic - God forbid - will hand it over to Turkey."

Most European states (especially EU members) reject extraditions to Turkey due to political control of justice. The governments of Kosovo and Albania have acted the same (and courageously) towards the Turkish demands for the extradition of Turkish citizens. This has angered some Turkish diplomats. In conversation with Western journalists, they say that the institutions of Kosovo and Albania are infiltrated by "Gulenists". The Turkish diplomats have no evidence for this accusation, but in the time of permanent tension of the situation, the facts are forgotten by the Turkish side.

Important is the game with emotions and completely unacceptable accusations against countries that traditionally have good relations with Turkey. For example: Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has threatened American soldiers with an "Ottoman flare" if they continue to support Kurdish fighters in Syria. The Turkish president has several times compared German politicians to "Nazis" because they have proposed the termination of negotiations for membership in the European Union. Erdoğan has accused the Dutch of having "despicable character", because they had banned the participation of Turkish ministers in electoral rallies with the Turkish community in the Netherlands. According to him, Germany and the Netherlands are "bandit states".

Dogan Akhanli has escaped extradition to Turkey. It would be a big surprise if the Czech Republic acted differently in the case of the Kurdish politician from Syria, Salih Muslim. But unexpected things can also happen in the Czech Republic, because in Prague the president is no longer a dissident like Valcav Haveli, but Milosh Zemani, a hater of the EU, a friend of Vladimir Putin and a despiser of justice. The prime minister is a corruption suspect. While one of the leaders of the opposition, Tomio Okamura, half Czech, half Japanese, has been noted for his xenophobic statements.

© KOHA Daily