Ankara releases Turkish-German journalist after year in detention

Turkey has released a Turkish-German journalist whose year-long detention without charge escalated diplomatic tensions between Berlin and Ankara.

Deniz Yücel, a journalist for Die Welt, was jailed a year ago last Wednesday but formally charged with spreading terrorism-related propaganda only on Thursday.

Germany’s acting chancellor, Angela Merkel, pressed for his release in a meeting with the Turkish prime minister, Binali Yildirim, on Thursday. Hours later, on Friday afternoon, he was a free man after Germany’s foreign minister, Sigmar Gabriel, said that the release followed months of high-end diplomacy, including two meetings with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey.

Mr Yücel was accused by Mr Erdogan of acting as an agent for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, on which he had reported, and of links to people involved in the failed 2016 coup that Turkey says was organised by the US-based cleric Fethullah Gülen.

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Turkey had insisted it would exert no political influence on the court’s decision in the Yücel case, but Mr Gabriel said this had been the “main concern” in Berlin’s discussions with Ankara.

On Friday Mr Yücel was released from Silivri prison, 85km west of Istanbul, and was greeted by his wife, Dilek Mayatürk Yücel. After news of his release broke she tweeted: “Finally!!! Finally!!! Finally!! Deniz is free!”

Coup-attempt crackdown

Mr Yücel, a 47-year-old dual Turkish-German citizen, will still face legal proceedings in Turkey. The country’s Anadolu news agency reported that prosecutors had filed an indictment seeking a sentence of four to 18 years. Filing formal charges was a procedural step in order to secure his release from remand by the court.

Mr Yücel was one of scores of journalists detained by Turkish authorities as part of a broader crackdown against tens of thousands of people accused of involvement in the failed 2016 coup.

Originally he was supposed to be released on Thursday, according to his employer, Die Welt, but the journalist was suspicious that his release was part of a political deal between Turkey and Germany. On Friday Berlin insisted there had been no political deal with Ankara, and thanked Turkish authorities for expediting his release.

Human-rights campaigners in Germany criticised those thanks as grotesque and accused Turkey of holding Mr Yücel hostage for a year until it pressed formal charges.

Six journalists jailed for life

Separately on Friday, a Turkish court sentenced six journalists, including two prominent brothers, to life in jail for aiding plotters of the failed coup, state media said. The Istanbul court found the journalists guilty of “attempting to abolish the order prescribed by the Turkish constitution or to bring in a new order”.

The verdict drew fierce criticism from rights groups and international bodies, including the United Nations and media-freedom experts at the Organisation for Security and Co-operation, who said Turkey should reverse the decision. – additional reporting Reuters