ANKARA - German Ambassador in Ankara Dr. Rudolf Schmidt said on Tuesday that they welcomed the State Security Court's verdict on acquittal of suspects of case against German foundations in Turkey.
Releasing a statement, Schmidt said that the case had revealed that German foundations did not have any connection with the 'absurd' accusations mentioned in the indictment.
Recalling that Prime Minister Abdullah Gul had stressed importance of activities of German foundations last week, Schmidt said German foundations' activities would continue in line with benefits of Turkey and Germany.
The Ankara DGM Chief Prosecutor's Office, under an investigation into five German foundations in Turkey, had filed a lawsuit against 15 representatives of these foundations on charges of ''forming a secret alliance against Turkey's unity and secular republic regime''.
The indictment had said, ''when activities of German foundations in Turkey are investigated, serious traces of a legal spying activity will be seen. The foundations are the most influential and most reliable tools of German foreign policy. In places in which classical diplomacy does not have any influence, these foundations carry out activities and penetrate all important fields of politics and society.''
Under the indictment dated October 21, 2002 which was prepared by former Ankara DGM Prosecutor Nuh Mete Yuksel who was appointed as the Ankara Prosecutor, imprisonment terms from 8 up to 15 years were sought for the suspects under the Turkish Penal Code's Article 171 on forming a ''secret alliance against the state''.
(MS-AÖ) 04.03.2003