Turkey frees another German ‘political prisoner,’ says Berlin

German journalist Mesale Tolu, center, accompanied by friends, poses for pictures after she was released from prison in Istanbul on Monday. (AP)

BERLIN: Turkey has released another German citizen from jail, Berlin said on Friday amid a gradual thaw in bilateral ties, stressing however that seven more were still being held for “political reasons.”
Without identifying the person, the German Foreign Ministry said it could “confirm the unconditional release of a German citizen who had been jailed for political reasons in Turkey.”
Turkey was however still holding seven German citizens “for political reasons” out of a total of 50 Germans behind bars in the country.
Berlin-Ankara ties have been badly strained, especially since Turkey’s 2016 failed coup and subsequent crackdown, which Germany and other Western nations have criticized as excessive.
Germany, home to a large Turkish minority, has since urged a cut in EU funding linked to Turkey’s membership talks, which have ground to a virtual standstill.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in an interview published on Thursday, expressed hope for a better relationship with Germany and the EU after a fractious 2017.
His comments followed Turkey’s recent release from months of detention of German pilgrim David Britsch and German journalist Mesale Tolu.
However, the German-Turkish correspondent of Die Welt newspaper, Deniz Yucel, who was arrested in February, remains behind bars, and no date for his trial has been set.
The German government has responded cautiously to Erdogan’s signals that he wants better relations, stressing its interest in several Germans jailed for what Berlin considers political reasons.
German government spokesman Georg Streiter said on Friday: “The German government has taken note of these comments by President Erdogan. The German government is of the opinion that resolving the remaining detention cases has an important role in improving bilateral relations.”