VIENNA: AN Italian man of Turkish origin who claimed to have been tasked with killing public figures in Austria has been expelled from the country, his lawyer said Tuesday.
Feyyaz Ozturk, 53, turned himself in to the Austrian intelligence services last year.
According to former MP Berivan Aslan who is active on Kurdish issues, Ozturk had been charged with assassinating her and two others who had expressed views critical of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“The authorities considered him to be an imminent danger to public security and he was taken to the Italian border before Christmas,” Ozturk’s lawyer Veronika Ujvarosi told AFP.
Prosecutors confirmed that they had opened an investigation against Ozturk in September and subsequently charged him with conducting “military espionage on behalf of a foreign state.”
He risks up to two years in jail if convicted.
Ozturk’s trial is scheduled for February 4, Vienna’s criminal court confirmed Tuesday.
According to local press reports, Ozturk had admitted to investigators that he gave false testimony to a Turkish court in a case which ended in the conviction of an employee at the US consulate in Istanbul last June on terror charges.
As Ozturk could no longer be held in pre-trial detention, authorities decided to expel him rather than allow him to remain on Austrian soil, Ujvarosi said.
“My client is well and he would like to return to Austria,” she said, adding that she had asked for a temporary lifting of his ban from Austria so that he can attend his trial.
Aslan told AFP this week that she was still under police protection, first extended to her when the plot allegations came to light last year.
Turkish authorities have vehemently denied any connection to Ozturk.
A neutral country which plays host to a wide range of international organizations, Austria has a reputation as a center of espionage.
However, allegations of plots such as that involving Ozturk have been rare.
Austria expels alleged Turkish spy accused of assassination plots
https://arab.news/w29qc
Austria expels alleged Turkish spy accused of assassination plots
- According to former MP Berivan Aslan who is active on Kurdish issues, Ozturk had been charged with assassinating her and two others
- As Ozturk could no longer be held in pre-trial detention, authorities decided to expel him rather than allow him to remain on Austrian soil
Pull him off TV: Steve Bannon shuts down Sen. Lindsey Graham
- Trump’s former chief strategist called for the senator to be registered as a foreign agent
DUBAI: Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon called on Tuesday for US Senator Lindsey Graham to be registered as a foreign agent of the Israeli government, escalating a growing conservative backlash against the senator’s vocal support for Israel.
Speaking on his podcast “War Room,” Bannon said Graham should be “pulled off of television,” adding: "This is dangerous… because you have guys like Lindsey Graham and dozens more that are doing the wrong thing.”
In a Fox News interview on Monday, Graham said: “To all the antisemites, to all the isolationists… I’m not with you, I’m with Israel, I will be with Israel to our dying day.”
Graham also urged Gulf Arab states to join military action against Iran. “What I want you to do in the Middle East, to our friends in Saudi Arabia and other places, [is] step forward and say, ‘this is my fight too, I join America, I’m publicly involved in bringing this regime down,’” he said.
In a post on X, Graham questioned the value of a US defense agreement with Saudi Arabia following the evacuation of the American embassy in Riyadh, writing: “Why should America do a defense agreement with a country like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that is unwilling to join a fight of mutual interest?”
Faisal Abbas, editor-in-chief of Arab News, responded to Graham’s comments in a Sky News interview, saying: “He flip flops so much, it’s actually entertaining.”
“On one hand, he says he will never set foot in Saudi Arabia. The next day, he’s here signing multimillion-dollar deals.”
“I don’t think anyone here takes him seriously,” Abbas added.
He warned Graham to be careful what he wished for: “Do you really want Saudi Arabia involved in this war putting our oil facilities at risk or do you want us stabilizing the energy markets?”
Graham pressed further, warning that inaction would carry a price. “Hopefully Gulf Cooperation Council countries will get more involved as this fight is in their backyard. If you are not willing to use your military now, when are you willing to use it?”
“Hopefully this changes soon. If not, consequences will follow.”
Graham's remarks drew sharp criticism from Bannon and others including podcast host Megyn Kelly.
She questioned on X whether Graham was overstepping his authority as a senator, writing: “When did Lindsay Graham become our president?”
Kelly also said Graham had threatened Lebanon, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, the wider Arab region, and Spain within a 24-hour period.
The problem with Graham “isn’t (just) that he’s a homicidal maniac, it’s that Trump likes and is listening to him,” she said in another post.
