Germany summons Turkish envoy over 'press freedom' row
Germany on Tuesday summoned the Turkish ambassador in Berlin and rejected Ankara's complaints of breaching press freedom with the alleged arrest of two pro-government reporters in Frankfurt.
Ankara last week had called in Germany's envoy after claiming that two Turkish reporters were detained in the German business capital, ratcheting up diplomatic tensions ahead of Turkey's pivotal runoff election.
Germany hosts a large Turkish diaspora, accounting for around half of the more than three million Turks living abroad who voted in this month's election.
A local German prosecutor denied that the journalists were under arrest but confirmed they had been charged with the "dangerous dissemination of personal data".
The foreign ministry said it had informed the Turkish ambassador during the summons on Tuesday "that the German government firmly rejects the accusations of the Turkish government regarding freedom of speech and the press as well as the judiciary in Germany".
German police said last week they searched the homes of the two reporters and seized electronic storage media and other evidence before releasing the men.
Turkey's foreign ministry had denounced the "harassment and intimidation" of the reporters, who work for the pro-government Sabah daily's Frankfurt bureau, calling it an "action against the free press".
Large Turkish diaspora
It said the alleged arrests were "a deliberate act", coming days after the first round of Turkey's presidential and parliamentary elections.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's powerful media director Fahrettin Altun condemned what he called "Germany's stance on silencing journalists" and expressed concern "about the repression of press freedom in this country".
The summons in Berlin marked a forceful rejection of such rhetoric, and an escalation of a diplomatic row just days before the historic runoff vote on Sunday.
Erdogan is seen as the favourite against secular opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who has promised to broaden Turkey's media freedoms.
Sabah belongs to the Turkuvaz Media Group, which has close ties to Erdogan's family. Its Frankfurt bureau is the headquarters for its European operations.
Around 90 percent of Turkish media organisations are controlled by or aligned with the government after sweeping purges and a crackdown on dissent that followed a failed but bloody 2016 coup attempt.
Support for conservative leader Erdogan and his Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the first round was overwhelming among voters based in Germany, where the incumbent took around 65 percent of the vote.