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Erdogan opponents ‘monitored’ by embassy in Denmark: report

An advisor at the Turkish embassy in Copenhagen has confirmed that it collected information on suspected supporters of the Gülen movement based in Denmark.

Erdogan opponents 'monitored' by embassy in Denmark: report
Photo: Adem Altan/Scanpix

Four men and fourteen schools in Denmark have been reported as being connected to the Gülen movement in a document sent to Turkey last autumn, reports newspaper Kristeligt-Dagblad.

The Gülen movement is a religious and social movement named after Fethullah Gülen, a former imam accused by Turkey of being behind a failed military coup attempt in the country last July. Gülen denies his involvement.

Turkey’s embassy in Copenhagen has not previously given any official response to the document, according to Kristeligt Dagblad, which has since gained access to the report.

Adnan Bülent Baloglu, religious adviser at the Turkish embassy in Denmark, defended in an interview with newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad the information in the document, which shows that the embassy collected information on 14 schools and four individuals in Denmark thought to be connected to the Gülen movement.

No specific schools or names were given by Baloglu in the interview.

“This gathering of information is the reflex by a state to a terrible coup attempt in which several people were killed. If these people are running freely amongst us, we need to know about it,” Baloglu told Kristeligt Dagblad.

The official’s role as religious advisor at the Turkish embassy encompasses responsibility for Turkish religious matters in Denmark, news agency Ritzau reports.

One Danish school, which is one of 14 previously linked to the movement on Facebook last year, said that it would consider legal action against Baloglu.

Phønix school in Horsens – an extra-curricular school for young adults known in Denmark as an efterskole – also denied any connection to the Gülen movement.

“This is certainly an issue that I personally beleive we should follow up on… I think action should be taken against people that have confirmed we are on a list,” the school's head Harun Güler told DR.

Baloglu said that he saw nothing wrong with the collection of information by the Turkish authorities.

“Have any of these people come to any harm after the collection of information?” he told Kristeligt Dagblad.

He added that the information was collected by the Turkish embassy and not by the imams themselves.

German security services have previously reported that at least 13 Turkish imams in Germany have provided information about Germany-based Turks to state authorities in Turkey, reports Ritzau.

Last month, Denmark’s government sought clarification from Ankara after several high-profile Turkish-Danes said that they feared being denounced to Turkish authorities as national traitors and terrorists.

Prior to that, Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen requested that his Turkish counterpart Binali Yildirim postpone a planned visit after Turkish government representatives were barred from holding referendum campaign meetings in Germany and the Netherlands, to the fury of Erdogan and his government.

The April 16th referendum in Turkey resulted in 51.4 percent of the country voting to give wider-ranging powers to Erdogan’s presidential post.

DIPLOMACY

Berlin police investigate ‘Havana syndrome’ sicknesses at US embassy

Police in Berlin have opened an investigation into unexplained sicknesses that have been affecting staff at the US embassy in the German capital.

The US embassy in Berlin.
The US embassy in Berlin. Photo: dpa-Zentralbild | Jens Kalaene

The investigation, which Berlin’s city authorities confirmed to Der Spiegel last week, comes after at least two members of staff at the embassy reported symptoms that correspond to the so-called Havana syndrome, an unexplained sickness that has been affecting US diplomats and spies across the globe since 2016.

The US embassy has reportedly handed over evidence to Berlin’s state detective agency.

The first cases were reported in Havana, the Cuban capital, where dozens of diplomats reported suffering nausea and headaches. There have since been cases reported in Vienna, Moscow and Singapore.

US authorities suspect that the condition is caused by a sophisticated attack using concentrated microwaves.

The fact that many of the diplomats and CIA agents affected were working on Russian affairs has led them to believe that Moscow is somehow involved – a charge that the Kremlin denies.

As far as this so-called ‘syndrome’ is concerned, US President Joe Biden has vowed to find out “the cause and who is responsible.”

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