German man barred from leaving Turkey

GERMANY’S foreign ministry said on Monday it was providing consular aid to a German man barred from leaving Turkey after the authorities accused him of supporting a terrorist organisation on social media.

German media reported that Adnan Sütçü, 56, was detained shortly after arriving in Ankara last Thursday to attend his mother’s funeral. According to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper and other outlets, the authorities accused Sütçü of writing Facebook posts calling for an independent Kurdistan, which is illegal in Turkey. Sütçü was questioned by police and then released but told to report to authorities daily and not to leave the country before a court reviews his case this year, the reports said.

“We are aware of the case and the embassy is providing consular aid,” a source at the German foreign ministry said.

The ministry source said 49 Germans are currently jailed in Turkey, including five held for “apparently political reasons”.

Sütçü, who has lived in Germany for decades, told the media outlets he had never supported a terrorist organisation, and it was unclear which group he was accused of backing.

According to a summary of Sütçü’s interrogation, he told Turkish officials he could not remember if he had posted the messages on Facebook and said he rejected violence.

The Turkish state has been waging a war for decades against the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish south-east, a conflict that has intensified since a ceasefire collapsed in 2015.