Turkey grants consular access to detained German journalist Meşale Tolu

BERLIN - Reuters

Turkey has given German consular officials permission to visit journalist Meşale Tolu, a German citizen detained on charges of advancing “terrorist propaganda,” a spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry stated on May 29.

German-Turkish relations have come under increasing strain in recent months, after Ankara denied German parliamentarians permission to visit German soldiers serving on Turkish soil in the anti-Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) coalition and after the detention of Tolu and fellow Die Welt journalist Deniz Yücel on similar charges.

Yücel had previously received consur visits, but requests to visit Tolu were repeatedly denied. Diplomats will now be able to visit Tolu on June 2, the German Foreign Ministry said. 

“We have received this information by phone but are still waiting for written confirmation,” it added.

Thousands of people have been arrested in Turkey as part of operations after the failed July 2016 coup attempt.