Turkish journalists to seek legal rights after being treated like 'terrorists' by German police

Turkish journalists to seek legal rights after being treated like 'terrorists' by German police

German police released 2 journalists working for Turkish daily Sabah several hours after their arrest

By Mesut Zeyrek

FRANKFURT (AA) - Two Turkish journalists, who were released several hours after their arrest in Germany, said that they will seek their legal rights as they were being treated like "terrorists" by German police.

Ismail Erel and Cemil Albay, senior journalists working for Turkish daily Sabah, were arrested in the early hours of the day, after dozens of police personnel raided their homes in Frankfurt. Their phones, laptops and electronic storage devices were also seized by the police.

They arrest came after reporting on the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in Türkiye.

Speaking to reporters after their release, Erel said that their houses were searched and they have been taken to the police station upon one person's "false complaint."

"This (false complaint) will be revealed. It will be revealed completely through the law," he said, adding: "Of course, a counterclaim will be filed against the person who made the complaint for slander."

Learning about the presence of police in his house from his frightened daughter at 06:00 a.m., Erel said: "I looked out of the window and there were about 20-30 policemen standing below. When I turned around, I saw the cops breaking into our bedroom."

He said although told the police that they could not enter his house like this and that a journalist can keep its sources confidential, they confiscated every mobile phone, digital media and tablet computer they found.

"The search lasted three and half hours. Then we were taken to the police headquarters in Darmstadt," he said. "I stayed there for about four and half hours."

- Dogs used to search Albay's house

Albay also said that his house was raided at the same time after the “false” complaint by Cevheri Guven, a FETO member.

Noting that the search lasted four and a half hours, he said, dogs were used in the search.

Albay said everything digital, including his mobile phone, computers, external disks and external memories, was confiscated during the search.

"They also towed my vehicle to the police headquarters, and they searched the vehicle," he said. "We were held at the police headquarters for about five hours."

Describing the way he was detained was similar to the way "a terrorist, an agent" is arrested, Albay said: "After we were taken to the police headquarters, our fingerprints, palm prints, our photos were taken. In other words, we were treated like a terrorist."

The Turkish Foreign Ministry condemned the arrests, calling it a "heinous act."

"The detention of Frankfurt Bureau representatives of Sabah newspaper by the German police today without justification is an act of harassment and intimidation against the Turkish press. We strongly condemn this heinous act," the ministry said in a statement.

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