Friday 4 November 2016

rendition

When the German government failed to respond to the extradition demands of Turkey to turn over some four thousand suspected dissenters and dissidents who were party to the failed coup attempt thought to reside in Germany, the Turkish government accused Germany of harbouring terrorist elements, which will boomerang back and destroy Germany. The tense exchange comes right after a series of purges and censorship of the press. It is unclear which persons of interest Turkey is hoping to be offered up or whether radicals are of the established variety (Berlin said to antagonise Ankara over its tolerance for the Kurdish minority) or if they recently fled the country. There was not a rush of political asylum-seekers but many lawyers who suddenly found themselves on the wrong side of the coup did seek sanctuary in Germany.