Turkey's prime minister Binali Yıldırım on Thursday met German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the Chancellery in Berlin and discussed bilateral relations along with recent international and regional developments.
Yıldırım said during a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel that German-Turkish journalist Deniz Yücel held in prison for a year has not yet been formally charged because of a backlog in court cases following a failed coup in Turkey in 2016.
"Turkey went through a major coup attempt. There are thousands of trials concerning the coup. The courts are very busy. There is a delay stemming from the workload of the court," Yıldırım said.
Yücel, a 44-year-old correspondent for German daily Die Welt, was jailed on suspicion of spreading propaganda in support of a terrorist organisation and inciting violence. He denies the accusations and no indictment has been made.
Speaking at a news conference in Berlin, Yıldırım said he hopes a court hearing for Yücel "will take place in a short period of time."
Yıldırım said cases such as Yücel's should not affect bilateral relations: "We do not want these and similar matters to harm relations between Turkey and Germany."
During the joint news conference with Yıldırım, German Chancellor Merkel said she saw many hurdles still in the way of normalization of German-Turkish relations.
"I said during the talks that we hope for a fast and constitutional (judicial) process for Deniz Yücel," said Merkel during a joint news conference with Yıldırım. However, Merkel added: "We want to intensify our contacts."
She also called Yıldırım'a visit "a signal that both sides have the will to improve German-Turkish relations ... even if that's not so easy at the moment."
The request for the meeting reportedly came from Ankara, and Berlin confirmed the meeting two days before Yıldırım's planned arrival.
