Saudi authorities have detained the Turkish defense attaché to Kuwait at Ankara's request. Meanwhile, Germany has warned Erdogan that re-establishing capital punishment will derail EU membership talks.
Quoting unnamed Saudi sources, Saudi-owned broadcaster Al-Arabiya reported Monday that defense attaché Mikail Ihsanoglu was prevented from boarding a flight to Germany from the eastern Saudi city of Dammam.
Authorities said Ihsanoglu had entered Saudi Arabia by land and was ticketed for a flight to the city of Düsseldorf via Amsterdam but was arrested without incident inside the terminal.
It was not immediately clear what - if any - connections Ihsanoglu has in Düsseldorf or Germany in general.
"Saudi authorities are holding the military attaché for the Turkish embassy in Kuwait," the Saudi kingdom's Asharq Al-Awsat daily reported, quoting what it described as a foreign diplomatic source.
"He was stopped based on a Turkish request and was detained during his attempt to flee over his likely links to the coup in Turkey," the daily reported.
Turkey's ambassador in Kuwait, Salih Morat Tamer, told the Al-Qabas newspaper in Kuwait that Gullu is suspected of involvement in the coup attempt but stressed that "accusations against him are yet to be investigated once he is handed over to Turkey." ...
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