Turkey Releases Journalist for German Newspaper

BERLIN — A German-Turkish journalist whose detention had proved an irritant in relations between Berlin and Ankara was released Friday from the Turkish prison where he had been detained for the past year, just hours after he was formally charged with spreading terrorism-related propaganda.

At the same time, the state-run Anadolu news agency said that three prominent Turkish journalists were among six people who were sentenced to life in prison. All had been accused of involvement in the failed 2016 coup and of having links to Fethullah Gulen, a cleric in the United States who Turkey says organized the effort to overthrow the government.

The release of Deniz Yucel, a reporter for Die Welt, came a day after Chancellor Angela Merkel met with Prime Minister Binali Yildirim of Turkey to press for his freedom.

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said that the release came after months of diplomacy that included two meetings with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey.

“The Turkish government always maintained that it would not exert any political influence on the court’s decision,” Gabriel said. “The independence of the court’s decision was always a main concern in all of our discussions.”

Gabriel told reporters in Munich that he believed there would be no restrictions on Yucel’s movements. “I expect that he will leave the country,” he said.

Anadolu reported that prosecutors had filed an indictment against Yucel seeking a sentence of four to 18 years. It was at the hearing in which Yucel was indicted that the court ordered he be let go until the start of the trial, but it was believed to be a procedural step that was necessary to arrange his release.

Yucel, who was accused by Erdogan of acting as an agent for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, was released from Silivri prison, about 60 miles from Istanbul. Even before that happened, his family was celebrating.

“Finally!! Finally!! Finally!! Deniz is free!” Yucel’s wife, Dilek Mayaturk Yucel, wrote on Twitter.

Deniz Yucel was one of scores of journalists arrested by Turkish authorities in a broader crackdown after a failed coup in 2016, in which tens of thousands of people were detained.

Taner Kilic, a Turkish citizen and the chairman of Amnesty International Turkey, was also jailed on terrorism charges and recently ordered released by a court in Istanbul. Before he could be released, however, he was remanded in custody on appeal by the prosecutors.