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  • Last Update
    16-Feb-2018

Die Welt reporter Deniz Yucel to leave Turkey jail

 

AFP

 

Die Welt journalist Deniz Yucel is being freed from jail in Turkey after a year in detention accused of spreading propaganda, German officials say.

 
His case was an irritant in German-Turkish relations, and on Thursday Chancellor Angela Merkel had pressed for his release.
 
Mr Yucel, 44, was arrested in Istanbul a year ago and accused of writing propaganda in support of terrorism.
 
Turkey labels separatist militants in the Kurdish community as "terrorists".
 
Mr Yucel was arrested after reporting that the Turkish energy minister's email account had been hacked. The journalist has both German and Turkish citizenship.
 
On a visit to Germany on Thursday the Turkish Prime Minister, Binali Yildirim, had voiced hope that proceedings in Mr Yucel's case could be speeded up.
 
German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel has confirmed that Mr Yucel will now leave Turkey. He said it was a result of German diplomatic efforts.
 
He is among more than 100 journalists and writers arrested in Turkey since the failed July 2016 coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
 
The authorities accuse them of links to the alleged coup mastermind - US-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen - or to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels.
 
The German government's relations with Turkey - a Nato ally - have been strained because of Mr Erdogan's massive crackdown on opponents since the coup attempt.
 
 

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