German Chancellor Angela Merkel held her first round of meetings with the leaders visiting Hamburg for the G-20 Summit to start on Friday. Merkel met with US President Donald Trump first, and then held her second meeting with Turkish President Erdoğan on Turkey’s request.

The hourlong meeting was held in Kempinski Atlantic Hotel and the two leaders did not issue a statement afterwards. The meeting was reportedly very cold. Merkel’s government officials said that issues causing tension between Germany and Turkey were discussed in the meeting.

According to the German press, Erdoğan complaied to Merkel for not being able to meet with his supporters in a rally, and the issue was discussed again in the meeting.

Other topics in the meeting were the Refugee Deal between the EU and Turkey, arrested German citizens in Turkey starting with Die Welt reporter Deniz Yücel and the human rights violations in Turkey.

The German media also claims that Erdoğan demanded extradition of those who sought asylum in Germany after the coup attempt on July 15 last year, and that the ban on PKK be enforced tightly. German Chancellor Merkel is reported to have said that she wants to have a reasonable relationship with Turkey that won’t hurt the freedom between the two countries.

ANOTHER GERMAN CITIZEN ARRESTED

As Erdoğan was on his way to Germany yesterday, another prominent German citizen was arrested and transferred to prison yesterday. That raised the number of German citizens in Turkish prisons to 30.

Representatives from various human rights organizations had come together in a house in Büyükada Island in Istanbul to hold a workshop on digital security and other such protections for human rights defenders, and were detained Wednesday evening.

Among the detainees is human rights defender Peter Steudtner. Reports say the German Consulate is trying to visit Steudtner who is held in the police station in Büyükada, but is refused by Turkish officials.