Who is behind Germany's Armenian Genocide recognition protests?
President of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been linked to the self-proclaimed boxing gang, Osmanen Germania, whose members had reportedly organized rallies against the German parliament's resolution condemning the Armenian genocide in 2016.
Ermenihaber reports. Metin Kulunk, a member of the Turkish ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and close confidant of Erdogan, directly and indirectly provided money to the Turkish nationalist gang.
The investigation based on German police phone taps and surveillance of the group suggests a relationship between Osmanen Germania and Kulunk, as well as the Turkish intelligence agency MIT, extracts of recordings have been published by Der Spiegel.
According to the report, on June 1, 2016 when the German Parliament was debating the Armenian Genocide recognition bill, Kuluk had a telephone conversation with Erdogan discussing the possibility of staging protests against the resolution.
"I am waiting for your instructions," the tape leaked to the media said, followed by Erdogan's response he would contact him later.
To note, more than 1,000 police in Germany are pursuing the self-proclaimed boxing gang, whose members are accused of murders, manslaughter and pimping, Sputnik agency reported.
German police have started a nationwide raid and are searching dozens of properties of a Turkish biker gang registered as Osmanen Germania boxing club, on suspicion of numerous illegal violent actions. Storage devices, drugs and weapons have been seized in the federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Baden-Württemberg and Hessen, as well as in major western German cities:Essen, Cologne, Duisburg and Wuppertal.
Founded in 2015, the gang is one of the fastest-growing groups of its kind in Germany, with 22 branches across the country and 300 members, many with Turkish roots.
Other allegations, which brought the Osmanen Germania members public attention, are their connections to Turkey's leadership, buying weapons, going after Kurds, Erdogan's critics
Metin Kulunk had also reportedly tried to recruit Osmanen Germania to punish German comedian Jan Böhmermann, who criticized Erdogan with a poem.