US President Donald Trump’s administration escalated its dispute with Germany over the transfer of a terror suspect sought by the US, with US officials berating their German counterparts in a private meeting and US Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker issuing an unusual rebuke of an ally for sending the man to Turkey.
Senior US and German officials had a heated argument over the fate of Adem Yilmaz, a Turkish man convicted of belonging to a terrorist cell, after he was deported to Turkey despite a US extradition request.
The dispute is the latest sign of mounting strain between the two allies under Trump’s presidency.
The back and forth, which occurred on Wednesday at a meeting between US Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan and German Minister of Foreign Affairs Heiko Maas in Washington, was described by three people familiar with the event who did not want to be identified discussing private conversations.
At the center of the debate was Yilmaz, who was convicted in 2010 of plotting to bomb US targets in Germany and sentenced to 11 years in prison.
US officials had filed an extradition request for Yilmaz over the killing of two US service members, but a German court allowed him to be deported to Turkey this month.
Hours after the showdown between the diplomats, Whitaker accused Germany of allowing Yilmaz to “escape justice by placing him on a plane to Turkey,” despite the US extradition request.
“We are gravely disappointed by Germany’s decision to deport a dangerous terrorist — Adem Yilmaz — to Turkey, rather than to extradite him to the United States to face justice for his complicity in the murder of two American servicemen,” Whitaker said in his statement, a rare public rebuke of a longtime ally.
The controversy is the latest conflict between the Trump administration and German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government.
A senior State Department official, who was among those who attended the meeting, said he was “not satisfied” with the German minister’s response, and added that the episode would hurt law-enforcement cooperation between the two countries.
“The German government has refused to take any responsibility for failing to extradite him to the United States, has flouted their treaty obligations and has undermined the rule of law,” Whitaker said in the statement.
A particular concern for the US from this latest episode is the fate of two Iranians held in Germany, at least one for allegations of involvement in a Paris bomb plot.
The US is worried that it still does not have any assurances from Germany that the Iranians will not be sent back to their country in defiance of the US request.
The three people said the US was particularly frustrated because the German court that allowed Yilmaz to be deported had not been aware of a letter sent by the US Department of Justice in November last year laying out the US case against Yilmaz and explaining why the US wanted him extradited.
One US official said the US was “blindsided” because German officials gave them no warning that the deportation decision had been made and he was going to be sent back to Turkey.
In the end, the US filed an Interpol “Red Notice” to secure Yilmaz’s detention in Turkey, where he is now being held, the official said.
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