Germany Arrests 3 Turks on Spying Charges

The German government has arrested three Turkish men that it has accused of spying on members of Germany's large Turkish population.

DW reports that two of the men were working under the supervision of one of the suspects. The two underlings are named as Goksel G. and Ahmet Duran Y. They were being supervised by Muhammed Taha G. Their full names were not released because of Germany privacy laws.

The Associated Press reports that 58-year-old Muhammed and 33-year-old Goksel were arrested as they transited the Frankfurt airport. Ahmet, 58-years-old, was arrested at his home in Germany's western state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

The exact nature of the spying charges has not been made public beyond the fact that they were spying on Turkish nationals and their "organizational structure," but AP reports that the warrant for the men's arrest was issued Nov. 11.

There are approximately 1.5 million Turkish citizens in Germany, making up 25 percent of the German population and the largest single ethnic group besides native Germans.

The incident is sure to further strain relations between Germany and Turkey and the European Union and Turkey.

German-Turkish relations were already strained over reports in the media from Aug. that one of German intelligence's favorite targets for spying was Turkey and its government. While it is typical of nations to spy on one another, Turkey and Germany are both members of NATO and military allies, making any allegations of spying particularly unseemly.  

The Turkish government even summoned the German ambassador over the reports, but the German government did not confirm the allegations.

Relations between the European Union and Turkey, already suffering because of Turkey's mass imprisonment of journalists and media moguls on trumped up terrorism charges, may also suffer because of the arrests.