Freedom of the press curtailed – opposition politicians arrested. The German government is highly alarmed by the most recent developments in Turkey. Federal government spokesperson Steffen Seibert also condemned the terrorist attack on a Turkish police station.
3 min reading time
What is happening in Turkey is highly alarming, said government spokesperson Steffen Seibert at the government press conference on Friday (4 November). He was referring to both the restrictions placed on the freedom of the press and the action taken by the Turkish government against opposition politicians.
The arrest of HDP politicians Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yüksekdag and other leading members of the party confirmed all international fears as to where the May 2016 decision in Turkey to lift parliamentary immunity could lead, said the government spokesperson.
The German government fully understands that the Turkish government wishes to investigate the consequences of the military coup in July 2016, and bring those responsible to account. The German government does see the need for the Turkish government to stand up to terrorism. That is the duty of every state vis à vis its people, continued Steffen Seibert. "We support Turkey here."
But, he continued, the German government has doubts about the legality of the action now taken against journalists of the newspaper "Cumhuriyet" and against HDP politicians. The German government is expressing this view "to our Turkish partners at all levels".
Bomb attack in Diyarbakir
On Friday (4 November) a car bomb exploded in the south-eastern city of Diyarbakir, killing eight people. Federal government spokesperson Steffen Seibert condemned the attack on the main police station in the city, and said, "Whatever justification the perpetrators advance for a crime like this, they only demonstrate their unscrupulous brutality. The German government condemns this latest terrorist attack in the strongest possible terms."
The German government considers it "highly alarming that the precious freedom of the press and freedom of expression are being steadily further restricted," Chancellor Angela Merkel said mid-week in Berlin. Warrants had been issued for the arrest of numerous employees of the Turkish newspaper "Cumhuriyet".
"The most recent example of this already sad development can be seen in what has happened to the journalists and the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Cumhuriyet," underscored Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday (2 November) at a press conference with Johann Schneider-Ammann, President of the Swiss Confederation. The German side has serious doubts that this can be reconciled with rule-of-law principles, she continued.
The German government will also be following very attentively the investigations and proceedings against the journalists now arrested. "The journalists can be sure of our solidarity as can all those in Turkey who are standing up for freedom of the press and freedom of expression under very difficult circumstances," said Angela Merkel.
The Turkish chargé d’affaires was summoned to a meeting at the Federal Foreign Office in view of the most recent developments in Turkey. The overnight arrests of politicians and members of parliament belonging to the Kurdish party HDP indicate a further drastic worsening of the situation in the view of Federal Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Nobody, said Frank-Walter Steinmeier, contests Turkey’s right to counter the terrorist threat and to use rule-of-law instruments to get to the bottom of the bloody attempted military coup. But that cannot be taken as reasonable grounds for silencing the political opposition far less putting them behind bars.