Horst Seehofer, leader of the Christian Democratic Union’s (CDU) Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), has called on the German government to issue a travel alert for Turkey, Deutsche Welle reported on Monday.
Seehofer’s remarks came after two more German nationals, one of whom was released on Monday, were detained in Turkey on Friday for political reasons.
“If German citizens can be arrested for illogical reasons, the federal government must tell people that they should not travel to Turkey because it is dangerous,” said Seehofer.
Reiterating his demand from Brussels to cut off European Union financial aid for Ankara and to not disburse 4.2 billion euros it had promised, Seehofer said the customs union agreement with Turkey should not be expanded as long as the principles of a state of law are ignored in Turkey.
According to the German government, there are in total 55 German nationals, 12 of whom are arrested for political reasons, in Turkey’s prisons. Among them are German journalists and a human rights defender.