The Federal Government called on the Turkish government not to prevent foreign journalists working in the country from doing their job. The accreditation of many foreign journalists, including the Germans, has not yet been extended.
The Federal Government Spokesman Steffen Seibert said a group of journalists from Germany and other European countries are waiting for the extension of their currently expiring accreditation. A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry also said that their concerns over the issue have been growing.
According to DW Turkish, Seibert stressed that freedom of the press is "an important value" and journalists should be doing their jobs freely. He said the Federal Government has contacted the Turkish government to provide this freedom for German journalists.
The German government did not give any information as to how many German journalists are expecting their accreditation to be extended.
As Süddeutsche Zeitung reported earlier some German journalists were not allowed to participate in the EU-Turkey High-Level Economic Dialogue meeting that was held in Istanbul in November 2018. According to the sources, journalists from Süddeutsche Zeitung, German Second Television ZDF, Tagesspiegel and the correspondents of ARD Radio were among those who could not enter the meeting because they could not get the new press card.
