Germany: Turkish spy list may be deliberate provocation
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere arrives for the weekly cabinet meeting of the German government at the chancellery in Berlin, Wednesday, March 29, 2017. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber) (The Associated Press)
Germany's interior minister says Turkey's intelligence agency may have given its German counterpart a list of suspected supporters of a U.S.-based cleric to "provoke us in some way."
Last month, Turkey's MIT agency handed German intelligence a list of some 300 alleged supporters of Fethullah Gulen thought to be living in Germany, among them reportedly a German lawmaker.
Officials have said Turkey asked the Germans to put those people under surveillance.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere told ZDF television Thursday that he suspected the move may have been intended to weigh on Turkish-German relations, "to provoke us in some way." He said he didn't believe it was meant as a contribution to anti-terrorist reconnaissance.
The Turkish government claims Gulen supporters were behind a July coup attempt. Gulen denies orchestrating it.