Associated Press International
 Saturday 9:13 PM GMT


Germany protests Turkish-born writer's arrest in Spain

BERLIN

BERLIN (AP) - Germany's foreign minister is urging Spain not to
extradite a German writer to Turkey after he was arrested on a Turkish
warrant.

Sigmar Gabriel called his Spanish counterpart Saturday over the arrest
of Doghan Akhanli while on holiday in Spain.

Akhanli was born in Turkey but emigrated to Germany in 1991 after
spending years in Turkish prison following the 1984 military coup in
the country.

German news agency dpa reports that Akhanli only has German citizenship.

The German section of the writers' associated PEN said charges against
Akhanli center on a crime committed while he wasn't in Turkey. The
group said it believes the arrest warrant against Akhanli to be
politically motivated, citing his writings about the mass killing of
Armenians in Turkey in 1915.