Turkey on Wednesday said it had summoned the German ambassador in Ankara after claiming that two of its reporters had been detained in Frankfurt.
A local German prosecutor denied to AFP that the journalists were under arrest but confirmed they had been charged with the “dangerous dissemination of personal data”.
The prosecutor added that “there were searches of private homes”.
Turkey’s foreign ministry denounced the “harassment and intimidation” of the reporters, who work for the pro-government Sabah daily’s Frankfurt bureau.
It said the alleged arrests were “a deliberate act”, coming days after the first round of Turkey’s presidential and parliamentary elections.
“Germany’s action against the free press, which aims to teach the whole world about the freedom of press and expression, reveals its double-standard approach,” the ministry said.