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German MPs angry at Nato plane mission

A Nato force of reconnaissance planes that includes German personnel will be sent to help Turkey police its border, drawing ire from politicians in Germany who said on Sunday they were not consulted.

German MPs angry at Nato plane mission
The German Luftwaffe's E-3A surveillance aircraft at the Geilenkirchen air base. Photo: Nato
“The government must immediately inform parliament of the details of this deployment, in particular what missions will be assigned to these planes and the destination of any data they collect,” Tobias Lindner, the green party's
head of defence matters, demanded in German daily Bild.
   
Though the mission involves sending German troops abroad, the government said it has no plans to consult the Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament.
   
The defence ministry noted the deployment was aimed at carrying out airspace surveillance and not armed operations.
   
Nato plans a temporary transfer of AWAC aircraft from the west German base in Geilenkirchen to the Konya base in central Turkey, Germany's defence ministry wrote in a December 18 letter revealed Sunday.
   
Germany contributes about 30 percent of the NATO personnel serving on the 17 Boeing E-3A Sentry AWAC planes in Geilenkirchen, according to the letter.
   
It was not immediately clear how many planes were to be sent to help Ankara “ensure Turkish security” in view of conflicts in neighbouring Syria and Iraq.
 
Tensions have been high since Ankara shot down a Russian warplane that NATO member Turkey says strayed into its airspace and ignored repeated warnings.
 
Sahra Wagenknecht, vice president of radical left party Die Linke, called the mission “highly dangerous” and demanded a vote in the Bundestag.
   
The head of the Bundestag's defence committee, Social Democrat Wolfgang Hellmich, said the timing of the news was “a bit curious” given that lawmakers were away for the holidays and have not yet taken up the matter.
   
The lower house was consulted in early December on German plans to contribute up to 1,200 of its soldiers to international operations battlingIslamic State jihadists in Syria and Iraq.

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ISLAM

Erdogan calls French separatism bill ‘guillotine’ of democracy

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday denounced a planned French law designed to counter "Islamist separatism" as a "guillotine" of democracy.

Erdogan calls French separatism bill 'guillotine' of democracy
Erdogan has already denounced the proposed measures as "anti-Muslim". Photo: Adem ALTAN/AFP

The draft legislation has been criticised both inside France and abroad for stigmatising Muslims and giving the state new powers to limit speech and religious groups.

“The adoption of this law, which is openly in contradiction of human rights, freedom of religion and European values, will be a guillotine blow inflicted on French democracy,” said Erdogan in a speech in Ankara.

The current version of the planned law would only serve the cause of extremism, putting NGOs under pressure and “forcing young people to choose between their beliefs and their education”, he added.

READ ALSO: What’s in France’s new law to crack down on Islamist extremism?

“We call on the French authorities, and first of all President (Emmanuel) Macron, to act sensibly,” he continued. “We expect a rapid withdrawal of this bill.”

Erdogan also said he was ready to work with France on security issues and integration, but relations between the two leaders have been strained for some time.

France’s government is in the process of passing new legislation to crack down on what it has termed “Islamist separatism”, which would give the state more power to vet and disband religious groups judged to be threats to the nation.

Erdogan has already denounced the proposed measures as “anti-Muslim”.

READ ALSO: Has Macron succeeded in creating an ‘Islam for France’?

Last October, Erdogan questioned Macron’s “mental health”, accusing him of waging a “campaign of hatred” against Islam, after the French president defended the right of cartoonists to caricature the prophet Mohammed.

The two countries are also at odds on a number of other issues, including Libya, Syria and the eastern Mediterranean.

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