German court upholds ban on lawyer couple from working in country

BERLIN (AA) - A German high court has ruled that a lawyer couple who fled to Germany following the July 15, 2016 failed coup attempt in Türkiye by the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) cannot practice law.

The Federal Court of Cassation said in its decision handed down earlier this week that the lawyers, who lost their licenses to practice in Türkiye after the coup attempt, could not submit the documents required to work in Germany according to Turkish law and that the Cologne Bar Association had rejected their request due to that.

The plaintiff lawyers first took the issue to the state court following the Cologne Bar Association’s decision, and when they could not get any results there, they took it to the Federal Court of Cassation.

The Court of Cassation ruled that the state court’s decision complied with the regulations of the legal profession in Germany and was not unconstitutional.

In the decision of the court, which did not accept FETO as a terrorist organization, the lawyers were referred to as "members of the Gulen Network."

The decision noted that the lawyers applied for asylum in Germany following the coup attempt, but this was also denied, and instead they received the "right to protection" given to asylum seekers.

FETO and its US-based leader Fethullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, in which 252 people were killed and 2,734 wounded.

Ankara also accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.