According to a report in Deutsche Welle (DW) on Tuesday, most of the 60 Turkish diplomatic passport holders who are seeking asylum in Germany in the post coup period are military personnel who were representing Turkey at NATO.

Given the fact that the military personnel at NATO have classified information regarding Turkey, which is a NATO ally, German officials are reportedly evaluating the applications with sensitivity.

In an earlier report in October, German media said that 35 Turkish diplomatic passport holders had applied to Germany for political asylum. Today’s DW story gives this number as 60. However, it has emerged that most of these people are not diplomats, but NATO personnel who presumably hold diplomatic passports as well.

As of today, three diplomats serving in Germany have been expelled from the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Turkey is putting pressure on Germany to not grant asylum to these people, citing national security concerns.

(Turkish Minute)