AFP, Berlin :A rising number of Turkish nationals have sought asylum in Germany, official data showed Friday, as tensions rise in Turkey over an intensifying crackdown by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.Germany recorded 1,719 Turkish asylum applications in the first half of this year, almost the same number as for the whole of last year, when 1,767 sought refuge, Tagesspiegel daily reported, citing data from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees.The office said it did not yet have any indication of how the failed coup of July 15 and the resulting massive crackdown had impacted on numbers.But even before the coup, activists and the West have been alarmed by the deteriorating human rights situation in Turkey, with spiralling numbers of journalists, bloggers and ordinary people being taken to court on an array of charges, including insulting Erdogan.Most of the Turkish refugees came from the Kurdish regions, with 1,510 applications filed by Kurds so far this year, according to the data.Last summer, Erdogan’s government launched military operations against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) following the collapse of a two-year ceasefire.Thousands of militants have been killed in the clashes, but activists claim that innocent civilians have also been killed in the offensive.Nevertheless, the rate of successful asylum applications in Germany by Kurds — at 5.2 percent — was lower than the average of 6.7 percent for the whole of Turkey.Turkey ruling party ‘orders clean-up’ after coup attemptMeanwhile, Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has ordered the party to be “cleaned” of supporters of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s arch foe US-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen, state media reported on Friday.In a circular signed by the party’s deputy leader Hayati Yazici, he ordered an “urgent clean-up in the party organisation” to eliminate those linked with the Fethullah Terrorist Organisation — a name Ankara gives for the movement blamed for the July 15 failed putsch, Anadolu news agency reported.The party decree also said the operation should take place “without giving any room for trouble or gossip within the party.”A party official, contacted by AFP, was not immediately available to confirm the decree.Turkey has accused Gulen of running a “parallel state” and staging the coup attempt through its supporters in the army — which the reclusive cleric vehemently denies.Turkish authorities have implemented a relentless crackdown in the wake of the coup.Over 60,000 people within military, judiciary, civil service and education have been dismissed, detained or are currently under investigation for suspected links to the Gulen movement.
