German FM Gabriel: Economic Pressure on Turkey is Taking Effect

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German Minister of Foreign Affairs Sigmar Gabriel has said that “the government toughening its stance against Turkey has produced its first results”.

According to Deutsche Welle, citing the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger newspaper, Gabriel remarked that “the economic pressure has produced effects”.

Gabriel has demanded that the rights activists who have been detained on remand,  including German citizen Peter Steudtner, journalist Deniz Yücel and translator Meşale Tolu, be released, adding that “their policies towards Turkey are going to change”.

The German Ministry of Foreign Affairs then issued a statement on July 20 warning its citizens about travel to Turkey and warning its companies about investing in Turkey.

Gabriel: The “terror list” was withdrawn

Gabriel stressed that following their warning, Turkey withdrew its list of companies that it claimed to “support terrorism”. The list included 680 German business firms, among them Daimler and BASF.

Since the subject sparked many debates in Turkey, Gabriel stated that “[President Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan said that the German companies were included in the list due to a misunderstanding”.

Touching upon the topic of German citizens being arrested, Gabriel added that “We have to protect our citizens. We cannot tolerate Turkish President Erdoğan letting German citizens be arrested”.(AS/TK)