BERLIN: Berlin on Friday welcomed Turkey's decision to release a second German citizen from custody this week as a sign of a gradual thaw in bilateral relations.
David Britsch, 55, arrived back in Germany late Thursday after spending months in deportation custody, days after Turkey had freed German journalist Mesale Tolu from her prison cell.
Britsch had embarked in late 2016 on an on-foot pilgrimage to Jerusalem from his home city of Schwerin but was arrested in April in the Turkish city of Antakya on the Syrian border.
His release is "another positive signal after the latest decisions and developments we've seen in recent weeks," said a German foreign ministry spokeswoman, adding that it helped "the step-by-step rebuilding of trust".
Still, Berlin says that several German or dual citizens remain behind bars in Turkey "for political reasons", among them German-Turkish journalist Deniz Yucel.
Tensions rose between NATO allies Turkey and Germany after last year's coup attempt and a mass crackdown that followed, which Berlin has criticised as excessive.
Germany, home to a large Turkish minority, has urged a cut in EU funding linked to Turkey's membership talks to signal the bloc's unhappiness over the crackdown.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.