Ankara 19 Mar (ANA) - Turkey is accusing Germany of supporting the network of a U.S.-based Muslim cleric it blames for last year's attempted coup — comments likely to aggravate a diplomatic feud between the two countries. Germany and Turkey have been locked in a deepening row after Berlin banned some Turkish ministers from speaking to rallies of expatriate Turks ahead of a referendum next month, citing public safety concerns. On Saturday, German news magazine Der Spiegel published an interview with the head of Germany's BND foreign intelligence agency, who said Ankara had failed to convince it that the cleric Fethullah Gulen was responsible for the coup attempt. "Turkey has tried to convince us of that at every level but so far it has not succeeded," Bruno Kahl was quoted as saying. President Tayyip Erdogan's spokesman responded Sunday, saying Kahl's comments were proof Germany was supporting Gulen's network, which Ankara refers to as the "Gulenist Terrorist Organisation" or "FETO." "It's an effort to invalidate all the information we have given them on FETO. It's a sign of their support for FETO," Ibrahim Kalin told broadcaster CNN Turk. "Why are they protecting them? Because these are useful instruments for Germany to use against Turkey." Germany hasn't responded to the comments. Ankara blames Gulen's network of followers in the military for a failed coup attempt in July, when a group of rogue soldiers seized tanks, helicopters and war planes to attack parliament and attempt to overthrow the government. More than 240 people were killed.(ANA)

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