Photo: Picture Alliance/Christian Charisius/DPAGermany has opened a probe into the actions of a senior member of a Turkish governmental religious organisation suspected of asking its members to spy on followers of exiled preacher Fethullah Gulen, German media reported Friday. The row deepened after Germany and the Netherlands blocked campaign events by Turkish ministers earlier this month ahead of a referendum vote to boost presidential powers. On Friday the Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily and regional public television channels said that German prosecutors had last month begun investigating Halife Keskin, who heads the foreign relations department of the Turkish state religious affairs agency Diyanet. According to the media reports, Germany suspects the agency of asking its members based overseas, notably imams in Germany, to gather information on people deemed close to Gulen. The German Der Spiegel weekly reported Friday that Diyanet had asked Turkish consulates in 35 countries to gather information about Gulen supporters.

Source: The Local March 31, 2017 21:00 UTC