But Y. didn't know that when he flew to the Black Sea with his wife. The Bonn native of Turkish origin has been home for almost two weeks now. He and his wife Gülsen (31) look relieved, but also a little tired, when they sit next to each other on the sofa in their living room and drink tea. The fear is still very present. Mehmet Y. doesn't want to travel any more in the near future.

In response to a GA request, the NRW Ministry of the Interior confirmed that the international search for the 44-year-old has been deleted from Interpol's database. Nevertheless, the couple does not feel safe. "There were policemen here who wanted to know how my husband was treated in Bulgaria. And they said he better not leave the country now," she says. Even if the so-called Red Notice no longer exists, there are other tools to search through Interpol.

It all began on September 2, when the couple travelled to Bulgaria looking forward to nine days' holiday. At the passport control in Varna somebody said: "We are looking for you". Policemen led Mehmet Y. away. He is interrogated, has to give fingerprints and finds himself a few hours later in a cell in the basement of the airport. He spends two nights there, gets two croissants and half a litre of water to eat and drink in three days.

The police tell him that he will be brought before the magistrate within 24 hours and extradited to Turkey. But then he is first transferred to a prison in custody. He has a thin mattress covered with mould and blood stains. "I stood motionless in the cell for minutes.“

Turkish media report on the case: "Long-sought terrorist arrested“, news stories read. A photo is shown, but it does not show Mehmet Y., but another man with a beard and a round belly in handcuffs. After a court hearing and the presentation of documents which were sent from Germany and which confirm that Mehmet Y. came to Germany as a refugee in the 1990s, he is allowed to leave prison and is placed under house arrest in the hotel where he wanted to go on holiday.

He has the feeling of being harassed by the Bulgarian police, with passport checks in front of all other hotel guests. This is unpleasant for him. At some point he no longer leaves the hotel room. Erdogan's visit to Cologne the couple watch on television. "That was bitter," says Gülsen. While the Turkish president detained her husband in Bulgaria, he received a state banquet in Germany. On October 10, the Bulgarian court finally acquits the man from Bonn.

And again and again the couple asks themselves the question: Why didn't anyone warn us? The Federal Republic of Germany knew that Mehmet Y. was wanted. Twice, in 2009 and 2012, a request for extradition by Turkey was rejected by Germany. And since a similar case of the Cologne author Dogan Akhanlı, who was arrested in Spain in 2017, the Ministry of the Interior in NRW has been informing some of those affected - but only about searches over the past five years. Mehmet Y.'s was older.

Upon request, the Ministry informs that from 2013 to September 13, 2018 a total of 93 searches by Turkey in NRW have been identified. 19 people were warned. Some had partly moved away, others had not yet been decided whether domestic proceedings would be initiated.

Theoretically, Mehmet Y.'s case can be repeated if there are more innocent people among the remaining, according to our legal system. Mehmet Y. was also only wanted because he took part in demonstrations as a student in the 1990s. In total, the deprivation of liberty cost the couple 8,000 euros, including hotel costs up to the time of their release. Now they are at least hoping for compensation.

(Original text: Nadine Klees, Translation: Mareike Graepel)