18 December 2017•Update: 18 December 2017
BERLIN
Chancellor Angela Merkel Monday has welcomed a ruling made by an Istanbul court to release German citizen Mesale Tolu, a translator and reporter, pending trial.
Speaking at a news conference in Berlin, Merkel said the ruling was “a good news”, but she also urged caution and stressed that the trial was not over.
Tolu, who was arrested in April on charges of spreading terrorist propaganda was lately working as a translator for a small Istanbul-based news agency, which Turkish authorities suspect had ties to an outlawed far-left organization.
The Istanbul court released Tolu and five other suspects at the second hearing of the trial, as it considered the time served in detention and the possibility of a revision of charges against them as the probe continues.
They were released under judicial control and are forbidden to travel abroad.
Tolu's detention has been widely covered by the German media, putting pressure on Merkel’s government as opposition parties fiercely accused the chancellor of not doing enough for German citizens arrested in Turkey.
As Turkish authorities have expanded their anti-terrorism operations in recent months, around a dozen German citizens have been arrested on suspicion of aiding and abetting terrorist organizations.
'Important step forward'
Most of them were German citizens with a Turkish background and several, like Die Welt reporter Deniz Yucel, have had a dual German-Turkish citizenship.
Despite repeated calls by German politicians for the release of these suspects, the Turkish government said it was ruling out exercising any political influence on the judiciary and called to wait for the courts' decisions.
German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, who recently had several meetings and phone calls with his Turkish counterpart, has welcomed the recent ruling.
"We welcome the release of Mesale Tolu from prison. Although this is not the end of the trial it is an important step forward,” he said on Twitter.
Ties between Ankara and Berlin have been strained since the defeated coup in Turkey last year as Turkish politicians criticized their German counterparts for failing to show strong solidarity with the government against the attempted military takeover.
Ankara also criticized Berlin for turning a blind eye to outlawed groups and terrorist organizations like the FETO, the PKK, DHKP-C and MLKP, which continue to use Germany as a platform for their fund-raising, recruitment and propaganda activities.
Germany has a 3-million-strong Turkish community, many of whom are second- and third-generation German-born citizens of Turkish descent, whose grandparents moved to the country during the 1960s.
