Member of the Bundestag Akbulut temporarily detained in Turkey

Gökay Akbulut, a member of the Bundestag from the Left Party in Germany, learned at the airport that there was an arrest warrant against him as he entered Turkey. The German government stepped in for the release of the German MP of Turkish origin, who was temporarily detained.

According to the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), the detention of the Kayseri-born German MP took place on August 3. Despite the German Foreign Ministry's statement that "we are aware of the incident", there was no explanation for the arrest decision.

According to FAZ, the German Embassy in Ankara and the consulate in Antalya were in "close contact" with MP Akbulut. The German government has been calling for Akbulut's immediate release "at the highest level, persistently and through various channels." intervened. FAZ also stated that Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç was also involved in the incident, but Akbulut appeared before a criminal magistrate.

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Akbulut announced his arrest in a post on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter).

In his post, Akbulut stated that his file had been deleted before his testimony and added: "I learned that the Kayseri prosecutor's office had issued an arrest warrant against me at the airport in Turkey. This incident has once again shown that there is no separation of powers in Turkey."

Akbulut had previously campaigned for the removal of the PKK terrorist organization's ban on activities in Germany.