BERLIN: A 49-year-old German woman is standing trial in a Turkish court accused of having links to the alleged mastermind of last year’s failed coup, German media reported Friday.
The accused, who has not been named, faces several years in jail if found guilty of belonging to the movement of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, which has been branded a terror organization by Ankara, the reports said.
At the trial in the southern city of Karaman, prosecutors accused her not only of membership of the group, which Turkey calls FETO, but said she led one of its local women’s organizations.
Gulen, an Islamic preacher who lives in exile in the US state of Pennsylvania, denies any link to the botched putsch in July 2016.
The prosecutors said they have electronic proof of the woman’s alleged actions against the Turkish state that were uncovered during raids at her apartment in Turkey.
The Turkish-born woman, who became a German national about 15 years ago, was arrested in August 2016, becoming the first German citizen to be detained after the attempted overthrow of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
She was granted conditional release in September but not allowed to leave Turkey.
But her case is far lower in profile than that of Deniz Yucel, a correspondent for the Die Welt daily newspaper, whose arrest in February on terror charges sparked outrage in Germany.
German journalist Mesale Tolu has been held on similar charges since May, while human rights activist Peter Steudtner was arrested in a July raid.
At least 10 Germans are currently detained in Turkey for political reasons, according to the German Foreign Ministry.
German woman on trial in Turkey over failed coup: media
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German woman on trial in Turkey over failed coup: media
Sri Lanka targets 3 million tourists to aid cyclone recovery
- The tourist arrival target, which is an ambitious 27 percent increase over the previous year, will help Sri Lankans recover from Cyclone Ditwah
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka is targeting 3 million tourist arrivals in 2026, a top official said on Monday, after a record 2.36 million last year, as the country seeks to boost revenue and support recovery from Cyclone Ditwah.
Famous for its pristine beaches, ancient temples and Ceylon Tea, tourism is Sri Lanka’s second-largest foreign exchange earner with $3.2 billion in revenues in 2025.
The tourist arrival target, which is an ambitious 27 percent increase over the previous year, will help Sri Lankans recover from Cyclone Ditwah, which hit the island nation at the end of November killing 645 people, said Vijitha Herath, minister of foreign affairs and tourism.
Torrential rains and hundreds of landslides damaged over 110,000 houses as well as key roads, railroads, and bridges causing $4.1 billion in damage according to World Bank estimates.
Growth, which was projected at 3.1 percent for 2026, was reduced to 2.9 percent by the International Monetary Fund in December. An IMF delegation is expected in Colombo this month to conduct the fifth review of a $2.9 billion program with Sri Lanka.
“We are proud that Sri Lanka still managed to record the highest-ever tourism numbers. We are hopeful that tourism revenue will also continue to grow and this will help our economy at a crucial time,” Herath told reporters.
Sri Lanka is also eyeing about $500 million in investment in the tourism sector in 2026 after attracting $329 million from 126 projects last year, said Buddhika Hewawasam, chairman of the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority.
