Turkey, once described as \u201cbaffling\u201d, has now become \u201cunintelligible\u201d.<\/p>\n
Looking from outside, it is hard to fathom how Turkey\u2019s leaders could remain so oblivious to the fact that their policies are turning dangerously counterproductive.<\/p>\n
With the arrest of the German Die Welt newspaper correspondent Deniz Yucel, the total number of journalists in jail has reached 155.<\/p>\n
Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned the arrest of dual German-Turkish citizen Yucel as a \u201cdisproportionately harsh\u201d measure.<\/p>\n
Reactions<\/a> from other German politicians and media freedom defenders were less diplomatic. There were several demonstrations calling for Yucel\u2019s release across Germany.<\/p>\n German-Turkish relations have already been strained after a spying scandal involving Turkish imams, affiliated with the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB).<\/p>\n Since the failed coup on 15 July last year, there has been a flood of asylum requests to Germany by Turkish diplomats and military personnel.<\/p>\n After Deniz Yucel\u2019s arrest, the German Foreign Ministry summoned the Turkish ambassador, in another sign of a brewing diplomatic crisis between the two countries.<\/p>\n The consequences of the ongoing crackdown on media go beyond stifling of freedom of expression.<\/p>\n Earlier, the European Court of Human Rights had agreed to give priority treatment to applications by jailed Turkish writers and journalists Ahmet and Mehmet Altan, Sahin Alpay, Murat Aksoy and Atilla Tas.<\/p>\n If the Court rules that they should be freed, this would set a precedent for several other journalists in pre-trial detention in Turkey.<\/p>\n Turkey may have already been looking for a way out of its obligations to the Council of Europe, if President Recep Tayyip Erdogan\u2019s campaign rhetoric of reinstating the death penalty is anything to go by.<\/p>\n Bringing back capital punishment would also mean that Turkey\u2019s membership application to the European Union would be automatically frozen.<\/p>\n It may well be one less headache during the process of establishing Mr. Erdogan\u2019s direct rule, but it will have long term economic and political consequences for the country.<\/p>\n