Bundestag lawmaker among German targets under surveillance by Turkey

Berlin (dpa) - A German lawmaker of Turkish descent is one of hundreds of spying targets that Turkish intelligence officials are pursuing in Germany, the parliamentary secretary for the Interior Ministry said Wednesday."A member of this house" is on a list of spying targets handed to German domestic intelligence chief Bruno Kahl by a representative of Turkey‘s intelligence service MIT in February, Guenter Krings said during parliamentary questions.Krings said that a second politician of Turkish descent is on the Turkish surveillance list, comprised of individuals with alleged ties to exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom the country blames for masterminding a failed military coup in July.The coup attempt was used as justification for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to consolidate his power and instigate a crackdown on dissent that has seen more than 40,000 people jailed and tens of thousands purged from the civil service.There are some 3 million people of Turkish descent living in Germany, and officials have expressed concern that some of the conflicts playing out in Turkey may spill over into Germany.The federal prosecutor‘s office confirmed on Tuesday that it had launched a parallel investigation into several members of MIT for suspected espionage.