The Dutch Christian Democrats have raised concerns about a telephone app where it believes Dutch people of Turkish origin could denounce those criticising the Turkish government.

In a press release on Friday, the CDA announced that it has raised the matter with the Dutch government, after reports of the existence of such an app in Germany.

It claims that the app, EGM Mobil, was made by the Turkish police to report all sorts of concerns but if somebody is reported for slander through it, they could encounter problems when travelling in Turkey.

A controversial law in that country makes ‘public denigration of Turkishness’ and Turkey’s government an imprisonable crime, including by a Turkish citizen in another country.

CDA spokesperson Pieter Heerma said that the party is asking for action on access to the app: ‘This is disturbing and undesirable. We want to know the possibilities to take down this app as soon as possible.’

In 2016 Dutch columnist Ebru Umar was temporarily prevented from leaving Turkey in connection with sending two tweets deemed insulting to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.