Turkey deports 9 Germans over Syria attacks outcry

BERLIN – Turkey deported nine German nationals, two days after they were detained at a press conference criticising Turkey’s latest military attacks in northern Syria, according to a German-based organisation.

The German citizens, aged between 19 and 27, are expected to land in Hamburg later on Saturday, Lotta Fischer, a spokeswoman for the youth centre Ronahi in Germany told dpa.

The centre had organized the Germans’ trip to the meeting in Turkey’s south-eastern Şanlıurfa province “to denounce the Turkish attack in northern Syria and especially Kurdish populated areas”, Fischer said.

Thirty-five people, including the nine young Germans as well as one French and five Italian nationals, were detained at the press conference held by Turkey’s Green Left Party (YSP).

The German Foreign Ministry was not immediately available for comment.

The German group had travelled to Turkey for a YSP youth congress.

They met with officials from YSP’s sister party, the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), and are accused of unauthorized attendance of a meeting, among other charges, the spokeswoman said.

Ankara accuses the HDP of alleged links with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and often cracks down on public criticism of its ongoing military operation against the US-backed militants in northern Syria.