Chancellor Angela Merkel once again condemned the attempted coup in Turkey on 15 and 16 July. In her speech during the budget debate in the German Bundestag she stressed, "The German government, like every European government, is committed to the fight against terrorism."

Broach alarming developments frankly

Germany has seen more than 4,000 legal cases against members of the underground Kurdish organisation PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party). The political level, however, must respect rule-of-law verdicts. Investigation of acts of terrorism cannot be taken as a justification "for restricting the freedom of the press and arresting thousands and thousands of people".

While expressing her clear criticism of this procedure, Angela Merkel also made it clear that it is important to remain in dialogue with Turkey. In this context she welcomed the recent visit of the Federal Foreign Minister to Ankara, although it was "anything but easy". It is in the interest of the German government "to cooperate with Turkey in a reasonable way". This does not, however, preclude clearly and frankly addressing alarming developments in Turkey, she added.