Number of Germans unable to leave Turkey has doubled since August

There are currently 74 German nationals in Turkey who cannot leave the country due to travel bans, the German Foreign Ministry confirmed on Tuesday.

The number has nearly doubled since the end of August, when 38 German nationals in Turkey were affected by travel bans.

The number of Germans incarcerated in Turkey has remained largely the same since last year, with 59 Germans currently in Turkish jails compared to 60 in November.

The German Foreign Ministry no longer publicly differentiates between people incarcerated for criminal or political reasons, in an attempt to avoid further damaging the bilateral relationship.

The topic is likely to come up when German Chancellor Angela Merkel holds talks with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on Friday.

In November, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said that the incarcerations of German nationals were one of the things standing in the way of a normalisation of ties between the two countries.    (dpa)