Erdogan actions ‘severely hit’ EU-Turkey ties: Merkel

‘German Chancellor Angela Merkel has expressed concerns about the latest measures taken by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, saying they have adversely affected relations between the European Union and Ankara.
“The developments over the past weeks have severely hit German-Turkish ties as well as European-Turkish relations,” Merkel told the parliament in Berlin on Thursday.
She further accused Turkey of holding journalists without grounds, including Deniz Yucel, a Turkish-German national and reporter for Germany’s Die Welt newspaper, who was taken into custody in February on charges of spreading “terrorist propaganda.” He is currently being held in solitary confinement.’
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