Kurdish demonstrators protesting against Erdogan at a rally in Zurich last November
Keystone
The Federal Prosecutor‘s Office has been asked to investigate suspected spying activities in Switzerland against opponents of the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
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swissinfo.ch with agenices/urs
The office on Sunday confirmed that a Senator, Josef Dittli, had filed a complaint against persons unknown for illegal intelligence gathering for a foreign state.
An examination of the complaint is underway, the office said.
Dittli said there are growing indications that Turkish nationals and Swiss citizens of Turkish origin have been subject to physical aggression and economic boycott. There have also been reports of Turkish informants spying on Swiss university campuses.
He accuses the Turkish-Islamic Foundation for Switzerland and the German-based Union of European Turkish Democrats of being behind the spying activities in Switzerland.
However, Dittli said his complaint did not cover the issue of freedom of speech of Turkish politicians in Switzerland.
Plans for a public event in Switzerland with the Turkish foreign minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, and other politicians of Erdoğan’s conservative AKP Party, caused a stir over the past ten days.
An estimated 130,000 Turkish immigrants live in Switzerland. Many of them belong to the Kurdish minority group.
About 94,000 people are eligible to take part in the April 16 referendum on constitutional amendments that include strengthening the powers of President Erdoğan.
They can cast their ballots at the Turkish embassy to Switzerland in Bern or at the consulates in Zurich and Geneva as of next Monday.
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