German eyes on ‘Turkish group’
‘Recalibrate’
BERLIN, July 28, (RTRS): German intelligence officials are reevaluating an influential Turkish expatriate group as, amid strains in relations between the two countries, they also step up wider efforts to clamp down on Islamist militancy.
The Milli Gorus group has close links to Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and German officials consider its founders extremist. Its estimated 31,000 supporters have long been included on a list of potential Islamist threats published each year by the Interior Ministry.
The total number of Milli Gorus supporters was quietly dropped from the agency’s 2015 report released last month, given what security sources described as indications of waning numbers of extremists within the group.
“Since last year at the latest, one cannot classify all 31,000 as extremist,” said one source who was not authorized to speak publicly.
The group’s leadership, Islamic Community Milli Gorus (IGMG), has played an increasingly active role in the government’s outreach program to Islamic communities in Germany in recent years, and recently published workbooks for children that include positive portrayals of Christians and Jews.
Intelligence
The 2015 intelligence report estimated that extremists still account for up to 10,000 of the group’s backers.
But Milli Gorus may represent the benign end of a spectrum being monitored by the intelligence services that also includes groups with ties to hardline Islamist organizations al-Qaeda and Islamic State.
In comments on June 28 coinciding with the release of the intelligence report, the government voiced concern that Islamic State could step up attacks in Europe and said the intelligence agency was training to respond to a large-scale assault.
Germany and France have since then suffered a wave of extremist attacks, most recently the killing on Tuesday, claimed by Islamic State, of a priest in a church in Normandy.
Germany’s move to recalibrate behind-the-scenes ties with Milli Gorus also comes at a time of great strains in German-Turkish relations and increasingly vocal criticism of Erdogan’s crackdown on people suspected of participating in a failed coup on July 15-16.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said last week that Turkey’s crackdown on academics did not appear to be in line with the country’s laws, and urged Ankara to end a state of emergency as quickly as possible.
The decision to stop reporting the full number of Milli Gorus supporters has also raised eyebrows since the coup attempt amid reports of growing violence between members of the group and other Erdogan supporters, and his critics in Germany.
Germany is home to around 3 million people of Turkish origin, including a large Kurdish community.
In Turkey’s last elections, 60 percent of Germany-based Turks voted for Erdogan’s ruling AKP Party, according to official data, and his supporters have demonstrated in cities across Germany since the failed putsch.
Green Party lawmaker Volker Beck told Reuters the nature of developments within Milli Gorus was hard to pin down.
“That is something the security services must keep a close eye on and regularly re-evaluate ... I would not trust myself to give an overall assessment, based on the information I have received as an MP,” he said.
Nicola Beer, general secretary of Germany’s libertarian Free Democratic Party (FDP), told Reuters the German government should continue close scrutiny of Milli Gorus, even if numbers of extremists in its ranks are declining.
“This is absolutely essential against the backdrop of current developments in Turkey and Germany,” Beer said.
She said the FDP was calling for increased resources and staffing for intelligence agencies to allow them to carry out increased and differentiated surveillance activities.
“Extremists must be observed as closely as possible to ensure they don’t result in any threats,” she said.
Security sources said intelligence officials were doing just that. “We are watching further developments in Germany very carefully, but it is too soon to draw any final conclusions.”