A Turkish court today acquitted all 15 representatives of German think tanks accused of harming state security in a trial that had clouded Ankara's bid to join the European Union.
The defendants, eight of them German nationals, would have faced up to 15 years in prison if convicted on the charge of "forming a secret alliance against the security of the state".
The case involved four German political and social research institutions: the Konrad Adenauer, Heinrich Boell, Friedrich Ebert and Friedrich Naumann foundations, as well as the Orient Institute scientific research group.
The groups were linked to a campaign by villagers near the Aegean town of Bergama who have protested against plans by Australian mining company Eurogold to use cyanide in gold extraction. The issue has delayed the multi-million dollar project for years.
Prosecutors accused the groups of belonging to a wider German plot aimed at preventing Turkey from benefiting from its natural resources.
The charges followed publication of a book alleging the NGOs had sought to destabilise Turkey. The author, secularist academic Necip Hablemitoglu, was shot dead in December outside his Ankara home. Police are still investigating the case.