Berlin, Feb 23, (dpa/GNA) – The German Journalists Union, has asked Foreign Minister,
Johann Wadephul to summon the Turkish ambassador, over the arrest of a reporter for Germany’s international broadcaster Deutsche Welle.
An Istanbul court ordered pre-trial detention for long-time DW correspondent, Alican Uludag on Friday, over charges of “insulting the president.”
Uludag’s arrest followed a police raid at his home in Ankara late on Thursday, conducted by approximately 30 police officers in front of Uludag’s family, according to Deutsche Welle.
During the raid, authorities searched his apartment and confiscated IT equipment, before transferring Uludag to Istanbul for legal proceedings.
Uludag has long covered human rights violations, corruption cases and court proceedings.
Previously, the Istanbul public prosecutor’s office had launched an investigation not only for insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but also for “publicly disseminating misleading information.”
Uludag’s detention has triggered a wave of condemnation. Turkey’s main opposition party, the country’s leading journalists’ associations and human rights activists, have joined the German government in calling for his immediate release.
Mika Beuster, chair of the DJV union, described Uludag’s arrest as “pure harassment of a critical and independent journalist who takes his profession seriously and refuses to be silenced.”
The arrest warrant is “a frontal attack on the German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle, which informs people through journalism rather than propaganda,” he said.
GNA