Germany: Berlin calls on Turkey to resolve allegations against arrested embassy lawyer

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SOT, Christofer Burger, Foreign Ministry spokesperson, (German): "We are trying to support the efforts of UN special envoy Salame. I can tell you that we were able to move further during our meeting on Wednesday and keep constructively working on finding an appropriate international framework to create an internal Libyan political process under the mediation of the United Nations. Meanwhile we have reached a consensus on many key issues, among others that there is no military solution and that we urgently need a ceasefire. This is why, from our point of view, it continues to be important to support what the UN mission is working on with their chief Salame. These are the first steps towards a negotiation process between the conflicting parties. I would like to underline that the aim of the Berlin process is not a conference but of course that there is progress in Libya. This means it is about deescalation, to find a way into negotiations between the parties again and the UN special envoy Salame is working towards that on site. If and when a summit will take place also depends on the situation in Libya as well as from the involvement of our international partners."
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SOT, Christofer Burger, Foreign Ministry spokesperson, (German): "As I said, I believe the progress has to be measured against whether there is an improvement in the situation on site and if we are coming closer to a ceasefire and if we are getting closer to a working dialogue process between the parties in Libya, under the mediation of the UN special envoy. Of course we are in contact with our European partners regarding this and of course we are working on this in the EU, there is a lot of joint engagement from the EU towards Libya. Now, from our point of view, it is about the process bringing results as we put it on."
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SOT, Christofer Burger, Foreign Ministry spokesperson, (German): "I can tell you that the federal government speaks for the re-establishment of the UN led result-oriented negotiation process in the Cyprus conflict. This is why we support upon request of the United Nations the unofficial, trilateral meeting of UN General Secretary (Antonio) Guterres with the two Cypriot group leaders in Berlin on Monday, as host country with financial and logistical support."
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SOT, Christofer Burger, Foreign Ministry spokesperson, (German): "I can tell you that, since the beginning of reporting on this case two days ago, there has been no new development from our perspective. From our knowledge the lawyer is still in jail. Perhaps you heard that Foreign Minister (Heiko) Maas commented on the case after being asked by the press on the sidelines of his visit to Japan and announced that he would like to talk about this issue on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Japan with his Turkish counterpart. We explained this multiple times over the past days and we have put in efforts with the Turkish authorities since the arrest of the lawyer of the German embassy on site in mid September that the allegations should be solved as quickly as possible so that he can leave custody. We expressed this multiple times on a high-ranking level towards the Turkish side and these efforts continue."
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SCRIPT
The Foreign Ministry commented on the lawyer of Germany's Embassy in Ankara that was arrested on espionage charges during a press conference in Berlin on Friday, with Foreign Ministry spokesperson Christofer Burger saying that Berlin has made efforts "multiple times on a high-ranking level" to clarify the allegations against him so he can leave custody.
"We explained this multiple times over the past days and we have put in efforts with the Turkish authorities since the arrest of the lawyer of the German embassy on site in mid-September that the allegations should be solved as quickly as possible so that he can leave custody. We expressed this multiple times on a high-ranking level towards the Turkish side and these efforts continue," Burger said.
The arrest reportedly took place in mid-September and suspect has been held in pre-trial detention since then.
The ministry also discussed Libya, stating that they "have reached a consensus on many key issues, among others that there is not military solution and that we urgently need a ceasefire." Germany has been attempting to solve the Libyan crisis diplomatically.