Berlin has condemned as “absolutely unacceptable” the pre-trial detention of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, calling it an “ugly sign” and a “serious setback” for democracy in Turkey.

“We are following the current developments in Turkey with great concern,” government spokesman Stephen Hebestrate said, calling on Ankara to “clarify the case immediately and with great transparency”. Hempestreit also said that “in the past years it has been possible to consolidate good relations between the European Union and Turkey and the recent developments are a bad sign for democracy, but also for the further development of this relationship.”

Earlier, Christian Democratic Party (CDU) politician Serap Güler told German public television channel ARD First Channel that German-Turkish relations are strained following the arrest of Mr Imamoglu and recommended that the future federal government abandon the “finger-pointing” policy and prefer confidential talks with Ankara. “Turkey is one of those countries which, when publicly rebuked, are not willing to change anything,” she said, calling the outgoing government’s “mistake”, which the government spokesman rejected.

On the Foreign Ministry side, deputy spokesman Christian Wagner left open the possibility of updating the travel advisory for Turkey, especially after the arrests of journalists covering the pro-Ekrem Imamoglu protests.