Turkey Pushes for Normalizing Relations with Germany

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced the push for formal charges against Yucel as he said Germany and Turkey were ready to "normalize relations." He also encouraged German tourists to visit Turkey.


Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the Turkish government was encouraging the judiciary to speed up an indictment against German journalist Deniz Yucel on Monday.

Yucel, a correspondent for German newspaper Die Welt, has been in pre-trial detention for more than 10 months without any formal charges. His detention has soured already tense ties between the two countries, Deutsche Welle reported.

Yucel was arrested in February on accusations of sedition and disseminating propaganda affiliated with terror groups.

"I am also not very happy that the indictment is still not there. But we can only encourage the judiciary to speed up the process. We have done that already," Cavusoglu said in an interview with the German dpa news agency.

The foreign minister noted that Yucel did not have government-issued press accreditations when working.
 (Tasnim)
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