Turkey summons German ambassador over attacks on mosques

Turkey has summoned Germany's ambassador to Ankara and conveyed to him a warning over the recent upsurge of attacks targeting Turkish mosques and cultural associations.

"Today, our Foreign Ministry summoned Germany’s ambassador to Ankara. The necessary warning was conveyed to him and a note was sent," Deputy Prime Minister and government spokesman Bekir Bozdag said after a cabinet meeting in Ankara.

He added that Turkey would continue to closely monitor developments in Germany.

At least two mosques and a cultural association have been firebombed since Friday, after the PKK and its offshoots threatened to carry out more violence against Turkish institutions in Germany.

Meanwhile, the German Interior Ministry said the security agencies are on alert for signs of violence against Turkish facilities in Berlin, Stuttgart and other cities.

The PKK’s youth organisation recently threatened to carry out more violent attacks against Turkish institutions and associations in Germany, to protest Turkey’s ongoing counterterrorism operation in northwestern Syria.

Ankara launched Operation Olive Branch on January 20 to clear terrorist groups – the PKK-affiliated YPG and Daesh  –from Afrin in northwestern Syria amid growing threats posed from the region to Turkey.

The YPG is the Syrian branch of the PKK terror organisation, which is responsible for over 40,000 deaths, and has carried out a violent campaign against Turkey for more than 30 years.

The PKK has been listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the US and the European Union.

No serious action by Germany

Turkey has long criticised Germany for not taking serious measures against the PKK, which uses the country as a platform for their fundraising, recruitment and propaganda activities.

Germany has a three-million-strong Turkish community, many of whom are second and third generation German-born citizens of Turkish descent whose grandparents moved to the country during the 1960s.

Also as TRT World 's Omer Kablan reports there has been an increasing number of attacks on Muslims in Germany. 

Firefighters battled for over 90 minutes to extinguish a blaze at the Koca Sinan mosque in Berlin early on Sunday.

Suleyman Kucuk, deputy state leader of the Turkish DITIB organisation in Berlin, said the mosque in the neighbourhood of Reinickendorf was heavily damaged in Sunday's blaze.

"The whole house of worship has to be renovated and rebuilt," he told Reuters.