Photo: DPATurkey on Thursday accused Germany of displaying "great political irresponsibility" in stepping up a travel warning for the country after Berlin reacted angrily to Ankara's latest arrests of human rights activists. Relations between Turkey and Germany, home to three million ethnic Turks, have been badly strained, particularly since the failed coup attempt a year ago against Erdogan. He accused Erdogan of trying to muzzle "every critical voice" with mass arrests in sweeping crackdowns over the last year. Germany has granted asylum to some Turkish dissidents, journalists and military officers who feared being swept up in the post-coup arrests. German politicians and media have accused Erdogan of detaining German citizens as "hostages" to trade for Turks in Germany, but Gabriel said he "had heard of no official exchange offer".

Source: The Local July 20, 2017 12:33 UTC