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AFP
Berlin
TWO more German citizens have been arrested in Turkey"for political reasons", Berlin said on Friday, as Chancellor Angela Merkel warned Ankara that Germany could reexamine its policies following the latest Turkish action.
The latest arrests bring the total number of German political prisoners in Turkish custody to 12 at a time when ties between the two countries have badly frayed.
There is"no legal basis" for detention in most of these cases, Merkel said, according to remarks carried by Germany's DPA news agency.
"And that's why we need to react decisively here," she said, adding that the government would"perhaps have to rethink" its policies vis-a-vis Turkey.
Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Adebahr said earlier on Friday that"on August 31, two German nationals were detained in Turkey for political reasons".
The German consulate in the western city of Izmir was first informed of the arrests. Confirmation of the arrests then came not from the Turkish government but from Antalya airport police, Adebahr said.
She declined to give further details about the case, saying only that German authorities had not yet been allowed access to the two.
"Our demands to Turkey are very clear," said Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert.
