German-Turkish author arrested in Spain following Interpol warrant

‘German-Turkish author Dogan Akhanli has been arrested in Spain after Turkey issued an Interpol warrant for the long-time critic of the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Spanish police detained Akhanli in the city of Granada on Saturday, Der Spiegel reported.
The arrest was made based on an Interpol “red notice” issued by Ankara, but Spain will only extradite Akhanli to Turkey if the Turkish government can convince Spanish courts it had a real case against him.
The German Foreign Ministry did not immediately return calls regarding the arrest of Akhanli.
In an interview with Der Spiegel, Akhanli’s lawyer, Ilias Uyar, described the arrest of the author as part of a “targeted hunt against critics of the Turkish government living abroad in Europe.”
Akhanli, who had been detained in the 1980s and 1990s in Turkey for opposition activities, fled Turkey in 1991. He has lived and worked in the German city of Cologne since 1995.’
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