Turkey releases German citizen after 6.5 years in prison for alleged ties to Syrian Kurds

Patrick Kraicker, a German citizen charged with "membership in a terror organization," was released from a Turkish prison on Sunday after serving six years and three months. 

Kraicker, 35, was arrested in March 2018 by Turkish security forces while attempting to cross the border into Syria. He was accused of trying to join the People's Defense Units (YPG), a Syrian Kurdish armed group that Turkey considers to be an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which it classifies as a terrorist organization.

Kraicker's family and lawyers have consistently maintained his innocence, arguing that he was merely hiking and had no connections to the YPG. According to his family, Kraicker was detained on March 14, 2018, in the southeastern province of Şırnak. They claim that he was interrogated without a translator, despite not speaking Turkish or English, and was coerced into signing a confession.

Kraicker's legal team has criticized the trial as unfair, alleging that he was denied participation in his own defense and subjected to mistreatment while in custody. They reported that he was frequently transferred between prisons without notice, denied communication with his family, and kept under constant surveillance, with lights in his cell left on around the clock.

His mother has voiced her frustration on social media, accusing German politicians of neglecting her son's plight. "It only affects and has only ever affected people in public life who have received encouragement and help from the government," she wrote on Facebook.

Kraicker is currently being held in a deportation center awaiting his return to Germany, which is expected to occur this week. (NS/VK)