ANKARA: The decision to free the Turkish-German journalist Deniz Yucel on Friday has removed one of the stumbling blocks to the normalization of relations between Germany and Turkey.
The surprise decision came 16 hours after Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim’s meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Thursday, when Yildirim hinted about “changes” in Yucel’s case.
German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, who has held regular talks with his Turkish counterpart, thanked the Turkish government on his Twitter account for its support toward a resolution.
Yucel, a reporter for German daily Die Welt, was detained in Turkey a year ago on suspicion of “spreading terrorist propaganda to incite the population.” He denied the charges, but no indictment was prepared until hours before his release.
Yucel’s detention in an Istanbul prison was one of the major symbols of tension between the countries and Merkel called it a “burden” on bilateral relations.
Experts said that the release was the outcome of several mutual gestures between Ankara and Berlin to mend ties by respecting mutual sensitivities.
In a surprising move, Germany on Wednesday banned several gatherings planned by NAV-DEM, an organization affiliated with the PKK — listed as a terror group by the EU, Turkey and the US — in northwestern cities.
German police said they based the decision on the probability that members of the group might again carry outlawed symbols of the terrorist group as they did last month.
Alper Ucok, Berlin representative of the Turkish Industry and Business Association (TUSIAD), said the progress reached on the Ankara-Berlin axis was the result of a lengthy process.
“Despite the problematic relations over the last year and many ups and downs regarding bilateral relations, both Turkey and Germany were determined to make use of all available communication, including official and non-official back channels, which brought about this positive change toward normalization,” he said.
German human rights activist Peter Steudtner, German pilgrim David Britsch and German-Turkish journalist Mesale Tolu were released late last year by Turkey.
Ucok said Turkey has been keen on normalizing its strained ties with the EU for some time, particularly in the run-up to the EU-Turkey leaders’ meeting on March 26 in Bulgaria.
“In that respect, the normalization of relations with Germany was more vital than ever. The continuity of this constructive process depends partly on the German government to be formed soon, which must formulate new Turkish policy for the next term, and partly to the encouraging repercussions at the EU level,” he said.
Conversely, according to Ucok, it would also be very decisive if Turkey took steps toward normalization at the domestic level, including the re-evaluation of conditions for lifting the state of emergency rule, which had been in effect since last July’s failed military coup.
“If Turkey could not take positive steps to strengthen its democracy soon, these slow normalization steps with Germany and also with EU might be doomed unsustainable even sooner,” he said. There are more than 150 journalists still behind bars in Turkey.
Journalist’s release helps German-Turkish ties to thaw
Journalist’s release helps German-Turkish ties to thaw
The UN says Al-Hol camp population has dropped sharply as Syria moves to relocate remaining families
The UN says Al-Hol camp population has dropped sharply as Syria moves to relocate remaining families
- Forces of Syria’s central government captured the Al-Hol camp on Jan. 21 during a weekslong offensive against the SDF, which had been running the camp near the border with Iraq for a decade
DAMASCUS: The UN refugee agency said Sunday that a large number of residents of a camp housing family members of suspected Daesh group militants have left and the Syrian government plans to relocate those who remain.
Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, UNHCR’s representative in Syria, said in a statement that the agency “has observed a significant decrease in the number of residents in Al-Hol camp in recent weeks.”
“Syrian authorities have informed UNHCR of their plan to relocate the remaining families to Akhtarin camp in Aleppo Governorate (province) and have requested UNHCR’s support to assist the population in the new camp, which we stand ready to provide,” he said.
He added that UNHCR “will continue to support the return and reintegration of Syrians who have departed Al-Hol, as well as those who remain.”
The statement did not say how residents had left the camp or how many remain. Many families are believed to have escaped either during the chaos when government forces captured the camp from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces last month or afterward.
There was no immediate statement from the Syrian government and a government spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
At its peak after the defeat of IS in Syria in 2019, around 73,000 people were living at Al-Hol. Since then, the number has declined with some countries repatriating their citizens. The camp’s residents are mostly children and women, including many wives or widows of IS members.
The camp’s residents are not technically prisoners and most have not been accused of crimes, but they have been held in de facto detention at the heavily guarded facility.
Forces of Syria’s central government captured the Al-Hol camp on Jan. 21 during a weekslong offensive against the SDF, which had been running the camp near the border with Iraq for a decade. A ceasefire deal has since ended the fighting.
Separately, thousands of accused IS militants who were held in detention centers in northeastern Syria have been transferred to Iraq to stand trial under an agreement with the US
The US military said Friday that it had completed the transfer of more than 5,700 adult male IS suspects from detention facilities in Syria to Iraqi custody.
Iraq’s National Center for International Judicial Cooperation said a total of 5,704 suspects from 61 countries who were affiliated with IS — most of them Syrian and Iraqi — were transferred from prisons in Syria. They are now being interrogated in Iraq.
