US slams Germany for refusal to extradite Turk
Fireworks erupted over German Chancellor Angela Merkel administration’s defiance of a US request to extradite a Turkish terrorist responsible for the murder of US service members.
“We are gravely disappointed by Germany’s decision to deport a dangerous terrorist early this morning to Turkey, despite our pending request to extradite him to the United States,” US Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell told The Jerusalem Post by email on Friday. “Adem Yilmaz is responsible for the deaths of US service members. This failure to extradite him to the United States violates the terms and spirit of our extradition treaty.”
The US indicted Yilmaz in 2015 on charges he launched attacks against military forces along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The indictment said he issued orders to a terrorist who conducted a 2008 suicide bombing which killed US service personnel.
A spokesperson for the German Foreign Ministry told the Post by email that the January 28 decision of the superior court in Frankfurt against the extradition is an independent decision of the judiciary.
The spokesperson said German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas met with representatives of the US administration to discuss the case in Washington. According to Bloomberg, the US filed a “red notice” through Interpol to secure Yilmaz’s arrest in Turkey.
The Merkel administration has long been accused of failing to enforce robust measures against convicted terrorists and fugitives. In 2007, Merkel released two convicted Iranian-regime terrorists who assassinated four Iranian opposition figures in the West Berlin restaurant Mykonos. The Israeli government and Iranian exiles at the time protested Merkel’s decision.
Germany’s legal system, according to critics, has earned a reputation over the years as being overly lenient toward terrorists involved in the murder of US officials and Israelis.
Take the example of the French police who arrested Abu Daoud in 1977, who was considered the mastermind of the 1972 Munich Olympic massacre in which 11 Israeli athletes and a German police officer were murdered. The German Justice Ministry told the French authorities, who arrested Abu Daoud, to contact the Bavarian government about interest in an extradition. German authorities created a clever scheme to avoid the extradition.
Alfred Seidl, a top official in Bavaria’s Justice Ministry, punted the extradition to Israel so Germany did not have to assume responsibility.
He said the federal government “could possibly avoid having to issue its own extradition request or having Abu Daoud extradited to Germany.” The German efforts to toss stumbling blocks in the way led to France sending Abu Daoud to Algeria. The French, like the Germans, sought appeasement with the Black September terrorists.
In 1994, the Red Army Faction terrorist Irmgard Moeller was released after serving 22 years in prison for the murder of three US soldiers. In 2018, the Red Army Faction terrorist Christian Klar was released after a 26-year prison sentence for killing three West Germans and their bodyguards and attempting to kill a US Army general.
According to the Trump administration, Merkel’s government is working against international security by seeking to evade US sanctions against Iran’s regime and solidify the Nord Stream 2 energy deal. Vladimir Putin’s Nord Stream 2 project would create a German energy system that is largely dependent on an authoritarian Russian government.