In 2017, a journalist from Germany's Die Welt reported to Turkish police for questioning and spent the next year behind bars without charge. His trial over terrorism and incitement charges begins in Istanbul on Thursday.
Image: picture alliance / rtn - radio tele nord
Advertisement
Opinion: Deniz Yücel's year in Turkish prison
01:55
This browser does not support the video element.
February 14, 2017:Deniz Yücel, the Turkey correspondent for the German daily newspaper Die Welt, goes to Istanbul's police headquarters to answer questions from investigators. Like other international journalists, the 43-year-old had reported that the Turkish energy minister's email account had been hacked. On arriving at the police station, Yücel, who has dual German and Turkish citizenship, is taken into custody. At first, the reasons are unclear.
February 18: A few days later, German Chancellor Angela Merkel calls on Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim to treat Yücel fairly.
February 27: A court issues an arrest warrant for Yücel. He is detained indefinitely, initially at Istanbul's Metris prison. He is accused of sedition and using "terrorist propaganda to incite the population." Articles by Yücel on the Turkish government's conflict with the Kurdish minority, and the failed coup attempt of July 15, 2016, are mentioned by the judge. Preliminary detention in Turkey can last up to five years.
Yücel is held at Istanbul's maximum-security Silivri prison and courthouse complexImage: Reuters/O. Orsal
March 1: Yücel is transferred to the Silivri maximum security prison. Shortly afterward, his lawyers lodge an objection against his pretrial detention.
March 14: Yücel is put in a 16-square-meter (172-square-foot) cell. He details his experiences to Die Welt through his lawyers. "Solitary confinement is almost like torture," he writes. "I can only see a 6-meter-high (19.6-foot) wall through the window. I can only see the sky through the barbed wire fence." Once a week, he is allowed to receive visitors, but only his closest relatives, for "one hour behind a glass partition," Yücel writes.
April 4: Germany gains consular access to Yücel for the first time. In September, however, Turkish authorities forbid Germany's Foreign Ministry from seeing Yücel again. "We do not understand why it cannot be possible for our consul general to visit Mr. Yücel and the other German prisoners in Turkey on a regular basis," Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schäfer says. He adds that Germany might consider legal action. But, he continues, years could pass before a judgment.
Merkel met Dilek Mayatürk, Yücel's wife, in the fall to discuss his ongoing incarcerationImage: Twitter/Steffen Seibert
April 12: Yücel marries his girlfriend, the TV producer Dilek Mayatürk, in prison. The marriage gives Mayatürk visitation rights. According to Die Welt, Yücel's lawyer Ferat Cagil and Safak Pavey, a member of parliament for the centrist opposition Republican People's Party, are witnesses.
September 10: On Yücel's 44th birthday, a parade of cars and bicycles is held in Berlin. The demonstration calls for the release of journalists imprisoned in Turkey.
Supporters took to the streets of Berlin on Yücel's birthday to call for his releaseImage: picture-alliance/Schroewig/B. Oertwig
December 13: Yücel's solitary confinement ends. He is transferred to a cell with access to the prison yard. Media report that Yücel is imprisoned with another journalist. There is access from their cells to the common courtyard during the day. According to the Sunday edition of Welt, Yücel is allowed to receive a 60-minute visit from close relatives once a week. Otherwise, only his lawyers are permitted to visit him. What he can receive in the post is restricted, and he is not allowed to send any mail himself.
January 17, 2018: Yücel refuses to become a pawn for Turkey in Germany's efforts to bargain for his release. "I'm not available for dirty deals," he tells the press agency dpa in an interview transcribed by his lawyers. He does not want his freedom to be "tainted with Rheinmetall's tank deals or the hustle and bustle of any other comrades-in-arms." A few days earlier, Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel had said that, although Turkey is a NATO partner, Germany's government continued to refuse to approve a large number of arms exports. "It will remain so as long as the Yücel case is not resolved," Gabriel said.
February 1: Germany's government submits its statement on Yücel's case to the European Court of Human Rights, charging that he was arrested on the basis of his news coverage. "Any suppression of objective reporting is incompatible with our understanding of press freedom," Justice Minister Heiko Maas tells Die Welt. "We will leave no stone unturned in our efforts to advocate a process under the rule of law for Deniz Yücel," he adds.
February 16: The German Foreign Ministry confirmed that Yücel was to be released a day after Turkish Prime Minister Yildrim promised Angela Merkel there would be "movement" on the case.
June 28: The trial against Yücel on terrorism and incitement charges begins in Istanbul. In an interview for Welt in March, Yücel left it open as to whether or not he would attend. But in the run-up to the trial, his lawyer, Veysel Ok, told DPA that Yücel would not be present.
Why are German and Turkish relations so strained?
German-Turkish relations have deteriorated since the failed coup against Turkish President Erdogan in 2016 and the crackdown that followed. DW looks at some of the key moments that soured ties between Berlin and Ankara.
Image: picture-alliance/POP-EYE/B. Kriemann
The Böhmermann affair
March 31, 2016: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan filed charges against German comedian and satirist Jan Böhmermann over his "defamatory poem" about the Turkish leader. German prosecutors eventually dropped the charges on October 4, 2016, but the case sparked a diplomatic row between Berlin and Ankara.
German lawmakers pass resolution to recognize 1915 Armenian Genocide
June 2, 2016: The resolution passed almost unanimously. In response, Turkey recalled its ambassador in Berlin and Germany's Turkish community held protests in several German cities. Turkey had repeatedly criticized the use of the term genocide to describe the Ottoman-era Armenian killings, arguing that the number of deaths had been inflated, and that Turkish Muslims also perished in the violence.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/S. Gallup
Tensions following failed coup in Turkey
July 15, 2016: A faction of the Turkish military tried to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but ultimately failed. Ankara accused Berlin of not taking a clear stand against the coup attempt or not doing anything about exiled preacher Fethullah Gulen's organization, who Erdogan blames for orchestrating the failed coup.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Suna
Germany criticizes post-coup purge
Immediately following the attempted coup, Turkish authorities purged the army and judiciary, detaining thousands of people. The purge expanded to include civil servants, university officials and teachers. German politicians criticize the detentions. Turkish diplomats, academics and military members fled the country and applied for asylum in Germany.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Suna
Kurdish rallies in Cologne
Erdogan's post-coup crackdown has also been condemned by Kurdish protesters at several mass demonstrations in the west German city of Cologne. Often the rallies have called for the release of Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which Turkey considers to be a terror group. Ankara has accused Berlin of not doing enough to stop PKK activities.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/M. Meissner
Arrest of German citizens in Turkey
February 14, 2017: Deniz Yücel, a correspondent for the "Welt" newspaper, was taken into custody in Turkey. Other German nationals, including journalist Mesale Tolu and human rights activist Peter Steudtner were detained in Turkey for what Berlin dubbed "political reasons." Turkey accused them of supporting terrorist organizations. All three have since been released pending trial.
March 2017: A number of German localities blocked Turkish ministers from holding rallies in their districts ahead of an April referendum in Turkey to enhance President Erdogan's powers. The Turkish leader then accused Germany of using "Nazi tactics" against Turkish citizens in Germany and visiting Turkish lawmakers. German leaders were not amused by the jibe, saying Erdogan had gone too far.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/O. Berg
Spying allegations
March 30, 2017: Germany accused Turkey of spying on hundreds of suspected Gulen supporters as well as over 200 associations and schools linked to the Gulen movement in Germany. Turkish asylum-seekers have since accused officials working in Germany's immigration authority (BAMF) of passing on their information to media outlets with ties to the Turkish government.
Image: Imago/Chromeorange/M. Schroeder
Erdogan urges German-Turks not to vote for 'enemies of Turkey'
August 18, 2017: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan slammed three of Germany's main political parties as "enemies of Turkey" and told Turks living in Germany not to vote for them in September's general election. He singled out Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), the Social Democrats (SPD), and the Greens. Merkel said Erdogan was "meddling" in Germany's election.
Image: picture-alliance/abaca/AA/M. Ali Ozcan
Merkel says Turkey should not become EU member
September 4, 2017: German Chancellor Angela Merkel said during an election debate that she didn't think Turkey should become a member of the European Union and said she would speak with other EU leaders about ending Ankara's accession talks. In October, she backed a move to cut Turkey's pre-accession EU funds.
Image: Reuters/F. Bensch
Turkey's military offensive in Afrin
January 20, 2018: The Turkish military and their Syrian rebel allies launched "Operation Olive Branch" against the Kurdish-held enclave of Afrin in northern Syria. The move was criticized by German politicians and prompted large protests by Kurdish communities in Germany.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/O. Kose
Journalist Deniz Yücel released from prison
February 16, 2018: Turkey ordered the release of German-Turkish journalist Deniz Yücel after he'd been held for over a year without charge. According to Turkish state media, Yücel was released on bail from pre-trial detention. Prosecutors asked for an 18-year jail sentence for Yücel on charges of "terror propaganda" and incitement.
Image: picture-alliance/Eventpress/Stauffenberg
Özil quits
July 2018: German footballer Mesut Özil quit the national team following the fallout from his meeting with the Turkish president. Özil said he was being made a scapegoat for Germany's forgettable performance at the FIFA World Cup in Moscow because of his Turkish heritage. Erdogan praised Özil's decision and slammed the "racist" mistreatment of the footballer.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Presidential Press Service
Travel ban lifted
August 2018: A Turkish court removed the travel ban on German journalist Mesale Tolu, who was arrested last year on terrorism-related charges. But the trial against Tolu, who has since returned to Germany, is set to continue. Her husband, Suat Corlu, who is facing similar charges, has been ordered to remain in Turkey.
