BERLIN

Germany’s domestic intelligence agency BfV gave up plans to put Turkish-Muslim umbrella group DITIB under surveillance, local media reported on Sunday. 

The DITIB, a Muslim organization founded by Turkish migrants in Germany, has become the target of anti-Turkey propaganda in recent years, and opposition politicians claimed that it was controlled by Ankara, involved in propaganda and spying activities. 

According to the weekly Welt am Sonntag, German Interior Ministry and the BfV could not find any strong evidence backing such claims about DITIB, and recently gave up plans to monitor the group. 

Several states, including North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and Lower Saxony, have clearly opposed a general surveillance of the group, underlined that it has been an important counterpart for integration projects, and advocated dialogue to resolve the problems, according to the weekly. 

The Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB), the largest Muslim organization in Germany, currently runs more than 900 mosques across the country. 

Last year, Germany’s Chief Federal Prosecutor dropped an espionage investigation into 19 Turkish imams due to a lack of evidence about spying claims. 

Earlier, German media had claimed that these imams gathered information about the supporters of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) in Germany. 

DITIB denied the claims and said they formed a campaign by FETO to discredit the union.