Germany Probes Hit List Targeting Exiled Turkish Journalists

German authorities are investigating an alleged “hit list” targeting exiled Turkish journalists there, one already warned of a planned assassination, after another was attacked and warned to stop writing.

The state broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported that the Federal Interior Ministry is probing if Turkish journalists in exile who have been critical of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are in danger.

Since a failed July, 2016 coup attempt, he has purged civil society, the courts, military and schools and jailed journalists to stifle any dissent.

He brooks no criticism of his authoritarian regime, where Reporters Without Borders said more than 200 journalists and media workers have been jailed the past five years and 204 independent media outlets shut down since July 2016.

“The investigation will be deepened,” Helmut Teichmann, Undersecretary at German Federal Interior Ministry, said in response to a German MP’s questions in the Bundestag, said Deutsche Welle Turkish.

Attacks by unknown assailants on exiled Turkish journalists who fled in fear have increased in the EU, including in Germany where reporter Erk Acarer was assaulted outside his home and told to cease his journalist practice.

The report said that police also warned Celal Baslangic, Editor of Arti Tv and Arti Gercek, an independent media outlet headquartered in Cologne, that he is on a kill list of reporters critical of Erdogan.

“The existence of so-called ‘execution list’ for Turkish journalists living in exile in Germany is a threat that German authorities must investigate with utmost seriousness,” Renan Akyavas, Turkey Programme Coordinator for the Vienna-based International Press Institute told Blueprint for Free Speech.

“The increasing number of physical attacks and targeting of Turkish journalists in Germany must be condemned by both German and Turkish authorities and Germany must take any measures to prevent such attacks and to secure journalists’ safety living in its soil,” she said.

Germany is home to 2.7 million people of Turkish heritage but the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel has been reluctant to provoke Erdogan with Turkey a major procurer of German arms and submarine components.

Merkel blocked Greece's call for sanctions against Turkish provocations that included sending an energy research vessel and warships off the Greek island of Kastellorizo before pulling them back, but said they would return.

Since the failed coup, Germany has become home to many critical Turkish journalists and some Turkish media outlets moved operations there, believing they would be safe in an EU country.

The country's journalist union Deutscher Journalisten-Verband (DJV) said that according to its sources inside the German police, there is an execution list targeting 55 Turkish journalists.

STATE OF FEAR

“There are a series of threats and attacks against exiled journalists from Turkey living in Germany,” DJV Chair Frank Überall said in a written statement, urging Foreign Minister Heiko Maas to summon Turkey’s envoy in Berlin and “make it unmistakably clear to the ambassador that these were unacceptable crimes,” calling for protection.

"It's sad enough that journalists can't perform their jobs in Turkey for being critical of the government, but it's unacceptable for them to have to live in fear in Germany," Überall added.

DJV Digital Communications and Deputy Press Officer Paul Eschenhagen told Blueprint that, “The safety of journalists is a very important concern for us,” and that Maas “must make very clear that this is crossing a border Germany will not tolerate.

“Threats and violence against journalists who have found refuge here from Turkey's repressive regime is absolutely unacceptable … these threatened journalists must be protected by the German police. We expect effective measures from the German authorities in this regard,” he added.

The Stockholm Center for Freedom cited an execution list of 21 Turkish journalists living in Europe released by a pro-government social media account.

Başlangıç said the reporters knew of it and then found out another listing 43 journalists who were designated to be hit to silence them, even those living in exile not safe.

“The German police … informed me about a third list that had the names of 55 journalists, including me. Based on what the police said, we understood that an investigation was underway. … It looks like the German police take the case seriously,” Başlangıç said.

Akyavas held out little hope that Erdogan's government – tied to the list – would do anything despite calls by media freedom groups in the EU.

She told Blueprint that, “Turkey has failed to protect journalists’ rights and fully investigate any threat and attack against journalists in the country so far which creates a great level of impunity for crimes against journalists.”

Baslangic told the Voice of America he believes the apparent hit list is an attempt to intimidate journalists and media outlets like Arti TV, the Turkish news network he founded when he moved to Cologne.

The Turkish Embassy in Berlin did not return emailed requests from The Voice of America (VOA) for a response but Cologne police told the news site that, “Those affected are journalists, writers, and artists close to the Turkish opposition.”

Baslangic told VOA: “We want to know the source of this list so that we can take it seriously, or (know if) it’s just to intimidate us, so that we can tell the difference. No one can distinguish it better than us, because we know the Turkish state, and we know what this state can do.”