German reporter Deniz Yucel walks free after a year in Turkish jail

DPA international (Englischer Dienst), Germany
 Friday 6:37 PM GMT



German reporter Deniz Yucel walks free after a year in Turkish jail

by  Bill Heaney, Bernd Roeder and Niels C Sorrells in Berlin, Michael
Fischer in Munich, and Shabtai Gold, Linda Say and Can Merey in
Istanbul

Berlin (dpa) -

The journalist whose arrest in Turkey last February became a major
sticking point in relations between Berlin and Ankara walked free on
Friday after a year of incarceration.

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, who earlier called Deniz
Yucel's release "a good day for us all," said the journalist had
departed for the airport.

"I want to especially thank the Turkish government for its support in
speeding up the legal process," Gabriel said, who revealed that he had
twice met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the matter, a
detail he had never publicized before.

A photograph of Yucel hugging his wife outside prison was tweeted by
his lawyer Veysel Ok and by his employer, German newspaper Die Welt.

The image shows the pair embracing as Deniz holds a bunch of parsley -
a "flower of our love," Deniz explained in an article for Die Welt in
December. The high walls of the prison and barbed-wire-topped fencing
can be seen in the background. His wife, Dilek Mayaturk-Yucel, had
earlier tweeted: "Finally!!! Finally!!! Finally!!! Deniz is free!"

"Of course I am delighted for him, for his wife and family," German
Chancellor Angela Merkel said, thanking all those who had worked for
his release.

"It shows perhaps that dialogue is not always useless. You never know
exactly how things are going to turn out."

Yucel, 44, was arrested in Istanbul in February 2017 and remanded in
custody on suspicion of terrorism-related offences, but he had yet to
be officially charged of any crime by state prosecutors.

A Turkish court ordered Yucel's release after accepting an indictment
from prosecutors which asked for up to 18 years in prison for the
journalist on charges of "making propaganda for a terrorist
organization" and "inciting people to hatred and hostility."

The three-page indictment alleged Yucel used the term "Armenian
genocide," and had contact with members of the outlawed Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK) and followers of cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom the
government accuses of orchestrating a failed coup in 2016.

Yucel allegedly has one book by Gulen, according to the charges, which
also mentioned a joke the journalist once related about Turks and
Kurds.

Erdogan expressed his views on Yucel on a number of occasions, saying
he was "clearly an agent terrorist" and a "German agent." The
president said there was footage and evidence to prove his claims.

Die Welt editor-in-chief Ulf Poschardt on Friday lauded the media's
cooperation in Yucel's case, thanking those who didn't publish
information that could have put him in danger while in detention.

However, Poschardt added, the fight is far from over, promising to
continue trying to free the 150 journalists still in Turkish jail.

The former editor-in-chief of Cumhuriyet, Can Dundar, who lives in
exile in Europe, was less optimistic, warning that Yucel's release
would have negative consequences on press freedom in Turkey.

"Erdogan now knows that it's possible to negotiate over journalists,"
he said. "Erdogan received something in return, we just don't know
what yet. Why shouldn't he imprison ever more journalists?" he said.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim had hinted ahead of a meeting
with Merkel in Berlin on Thursday that there would be movement in the
Yucel case. "I hope that he will be released soon. I am of the opinion
that there will be a development soon," Yildirim said in an interview
with German state-run broadcaster ARD.

He insisted Turkey's judiciary is independent.

After Yucel was released, Yildirim expressed hope that the two
countries would "jointly" take steps to improve their relationship.

"It seems that some problems in Germany-Turkey relations in the past
period have been resolved today," Yildirim was quoted by the Turkish
Anadolu news agency as saying in Munich, where he was attending the
annual global security conference. "God willing, it will get better."

Since the end of 2017, Turkey has been seeking to improve its battered
relationship with Europe, and especially Germany, a key trading
partner and home to millions of people of Turkish descent.

Some members of the Turkish community in Germany expressed joy.

"We are hugely delighted that he has been set free," community leader
Gokay Sofuoglu told dpa, describing him as "a positively zany,
freedom-loving journalist."