Germany has granted asylum to four FETO suspected soldiers in a new setback for relations between the two countries, weekly magazine Der Spiegel reported.
By granting them asylum, German authorities make it impossible for them to be extradited to face charges, a refusal likely to dismay Turkish authorities, who accuse them of treachery and membership in a terrorist organisation.
Turkey accuses Ilham P., a former Turkish colonel whose surname cannot be published in full because of German privacy practices, then head of the Ankara military academy, of being ring-leader of the group linked to FETO which is behind the bloody coup attempt on July 15, 2016.
The Foreign Ministry could not immediately comment on the report.
Relations between European countries and Turkey have been strained ever since the coup attempt carried out by US-based Fetullah Gulen and his followers who had infiltrated state institution in Turkey.
