German Chancellor: Turkey’s arrest of journalists dents EU membership

TORONTO, Canada (Kurdistan24) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday said Turkey’s crackdown on opposition media and journalists would affect their European Union membership negotiations.

Merkel described the wave of arrests as “highly alarming,” and said Germany supports those who were detained.

“The issue will obviously play a central role in membership negotiations with the European Union, so the situation is alarming,” she said.

The German Chancellor’s comments were referring specifically to the dozen or more journalists and members of the Cumhuriyet daily who were arrested.

“The latest example of this already very sad trend is what happened to the reporters and chief editor of Cumhuriyet,” Merkel continued.

“For me and the entire government, it is highly alarming that freedom of the press and speech are being restricted again and again,” she stated.

Merkel raised the concerns at a joint press conference with the President of Switzerland Johann Schneider-Ammann.

The German Chancellor added she “had great doubts” the arrests were made according to “the rule of law.”

“The journalists can be certain of our solidarity, just like all the others in Turkey who, under difficult conditions, are active for freedom of the press and speech,” she said.

On Saturday, Turkish authorities shut down 10 newspapers, two news agencies, and three magazines with a government decree.

A majority of the media outlets closed were Kurdish, including Turkey’s only Kurdish daily newspaper Azadiya Welat.

The Turkish government later released a statement accusing the media outlets of “disseminating propaganda for a terrorist organization,” referring to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

(Ari Khalidi contributed to this report)