Türkiye summons German envoy over detention of Turkish journalists

ANKARA 

The Foreign Ministry on May 17 summoned the German Ambassador to Türkiye, Jürgen Schulz, over the detention of the journalists working for daily Sabah’s Frankfurt bureau in Germany.

“The detention of Frankfurt Bureau representatives of Sabah newspaper by the German police today [May 17] without justification is an act of harassment and intimidation against the Turkish press. We strongly condemn this heinous act,” said the statement.

Ankara expects the “immediate release of journalists who were targeted by a false denunciation of a FETÖ member for their reporting on the terrorist organization FETÖ’s activities in Germany,” said the ministry.

Türkiye considers “it a deliberate act, that the German authorities directly detained the aforementioned press members without even inviting them to testify,” just after the May 14 polls, it added.

“Germany’s action against the free press, which aims to teach the whole world about the freedom of press and expression, reveals its double-standard approach,” it said, noting that necessary initiatives have been taken in Germany regarding the issue, and Türkiye’s strong reaction was conveyed to the German Ambassador to Ankara, who was summoned on May 17.