Turkish FM talks to German counterpart after release of activists

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Chavushoglu held a phone conversation with his German counterpart Sigmar Gabriel on October 27 after a German human rights activist was reportedly released by the mediation of former German Chancellor Gerdard Schroder, Hurriyet Daily News reports.

A Turkish court said on October 25 that Steudtner and seven other human rights activists should be released after the Turkish public prosecutor requested an end to the pre-trial detention of the activists.

The former chancellor intervened directly with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to arrange the release of jailed German human rights activist Peter Steudtner, weekly Der Spiegel reported.

Schroder travelled to Turkey a week after the German general election on September 24 to speak with Erdogan about the activist and other German detainees in Turkey.

“I am very grateful to Gerhard Schroder for his intervention,” Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel told Der Spiegel.

Schroder met with Chancellor Angela Merkel before travelling to Ankara, according to Der Spiegel.

“It is a first sign of detente, as the Turkish government has kept all its commitments,” Gabriel said.

“Now we must continue to work for the release of the other detainees,” he said.

Steudtner, an activist and documentary filmmaker, had been arrested along with members of Amnesty International in July and had been held on widely disputed terror charges.

He arrived in Germany on Oct. 26 after he was released from the Turkish prison. He had been detained since July 5, when he was arrested on controversial terror charges.