Angela Merkel backs hardline policy on Turkey after activists' arrest

Germany announced a series of hardline measures against Turkey on Thursday  amid rapidly deteriorating relations between the two Nato partners.

Sigmar Gabriel, the German foreign minister, accused the Turkish government of the “arbitrary” arrest of German citizens on its soil and demanded their immediate release.

In a series of measures that could threaten the fragile Turkish economy, he issued tough new travel advice for Germans on visiting the country, and ordered a review of export credit guarantees for German companies investing in Turkey.

He also said Germany would seek a review of €630m (£560m) of aid Turkey currently receives each year from the EU, and of Turkey’s partial membership of the customs union.

Mr Gabriel described the measures as a complete “realignment” of German policy towards the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“We expect a return to European values,” he said. “We need our policies towards Turkey to go in a new direction. We can't go on as we are. We need to be clearer than we have been, so that those responsible in Ankara understand that such policies are not without consequences.”

Angela Merkel backed the measures, describing them as “necessary and unavoidable” in a statement.

The dramatic escalation follows the arrest of Peter Steudtner, a German human rights activist working with Amnesty International, in Turkey.

Mr Gabriel cut short his holiday and returned to Berlin for emergency meetings after the Turkish authorities announced this week that Mr Steudtner is facing terror charges.

Turkey earlier rejected an official demand for Mr Steudtner’s release, calling it “unacceptable” and accusing Germany of “diplomatic rudeness” and interfering with the Turkish judiciary.

“The independent Turkish judiciary must be trusted,” the country’s foreign ministry said in a statement. But Mr Gabriel on Thursday described the allegations against Mr Steudtner as “offensive and absurd”.

The human rights campaigner was arrested alongside five other activists at a conference on digital security near Istanbul, together with the local head of Amnesty International.

Turkish media have claimed Mr Steudtner is an MI6 agent and was plotting a new coup attempt.

Though the foreign ministry stopped short of advising Germans against all travel to Turkey, it warned that “Germans have been detained in Turkey for reasons that are incomprehensible” and that “consular access has been denied in contravention of international obligations”.

It advised all Germans travelling to Turkey, even on short visits, to register their presence with the local embassy or consulate. The advice is likely to have a serious impact on the Turkish tourist industry, which is already facing major losses following last year’s failed coup attempt.

Until now Mrs Merkel has avoided direct confrontation with Mr Erdogan’s government, particularly in order to safeguard the EU’s controversial migrant deal with Turkey.

But a series of incidents have seen the mood shift. Last month Germany announced it was withdrawing troops taking part in international operations against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) from a Turkish airbase, after Turkey prevented German MPs from visiting them.

The arrest of Deniz Yucel, a German and Turkish dual national who worked as a journalist for Welt newspaper, caused considerable public anger.

And inflammatory remarks from Mr Erdogan, who accused Germany of “committing political suicide” by blocking him from addressing a rally of German Turks on the sidelines on the G20 summit, did not help to calm the mood.

The belief in Berlin is that Turkey is arresting German citizens on trumped up charges in order to use them as “hostages” in order to secure the extradition of Turkish officers who sought asylum in Germany following the failed coup.

Mrs Merkel has come under increasing pressure to stand up to Mr Erdogan and show Germany’s economic strength.