Excerpt:
More than 4,400 Turkish citizens have applied for asylum in Germany this year, the government said on Friday, with numbers soaring since a failed coup attempt against Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Among them are several Turkish military officers stationed at Germany's Ramstein NATO air base, national news agency DPA has reported.
Berlin-Ankara relations have been badly strained by concerns over the Erdogan government's stance on civil rights, especially its sweeping crackdown against opposition lawmakers, journalists and other critical voices in the wake of the July coup attempt.